Salut! Sunderland continues its mission to make the “Who are You?” feature a global exercise, locating a passionate Manchester City supporter on the Iberian peninsular. Simon Curtis*, who runs the City fan site Down the Kippax Steps and a lot else besides, all from his Portuguese exile, tells us of his esteem for all things Sunderland and his belief that few people really begrudge his club its new-found burst of success …
Goldy came up with the idea of introducing a new category reproducing articles inspired by collaboration with the sites of other clubs. Here is the first example, an interview with our old friend Scott the Red for The Republik of Mancunia. Crosstalk seemed better than Crossfire as a generic title …
Stephen Goldsmith has more important things to be getting on with but found time to deliver a heartfelt plea to Man United supporters: develop a sense of proportion about that spontaneous spot of fun at the SoL at the very end of last season. He thought it was the Proznan – a calming drug for women who’ve been reading 50 Shades of Grey – until his girlfriend put him, and our headline, right …
It seems somehow fitting that the Radio Newcastle commentary team, Nick Barnes and Gary Bennett, whose excellent work costs fans money to hear if they’re away from the North East and listen via the SAFC website, had to keep track of events at the Etihad via the reaction of the two sets of supporters at the Stadium of Light. Have the BBC’s cuts bitten that deep? Pete Sixsmith’s masterly summary of the match itself, and what little part Sunderland actually played in it, ought to be read aloud by Messrs Short and O’Neill to the few players they may wish to keep after another fairly hopeless performances confirmed the lacklustre, relegation-form end to the season …
Pete Sixsmith praises a Citeh winner, deplores Mancini insults, wishes Roy Hodgson well and takes off his Top Hat to applaud a title-claiming performance at that North-eastern equivalent of the Etihad Stadium known as the Brewery Field …
There hasn’t been a French Fancies for a while. But it has been a lively spell. There has been the stunning collapse of Olympique de Marseille, champions the season before last and creditable competitors in the Champions League even as their league and Coupe de France form has sunk to rare depths, with only this weekend’s league cup final against Lyon to offer hope from the season (Stop Press: and they won it; with the only goal of a grim game, dominated by lots of falling over, abundant feigning of injury, cards galore and precious little movement).
Beaten 3-1 at home by the Ligue 1 leaders Montpellier last night, they have now stretched their winless run to 12 games. Sessegnon’s rumoured next club, Paris Saint-Germain again, were meant to run away with the league thanks to all that Qatari money but it simply won’t – yet at any rate – run to script. And now Olympique Lyonnais are looking towards the Gulf for heavy investment. Or are they? The signals are contradictory. But even without desert gold, Lyon are gradually returning to something like the form that brought seven successive titles. If Montpellier get in PSG’s way this season, what price Lyon – a great city, by the way – doing the same next season? Assuming Francois Hollande’s bash-the-rich plans don’t drive all the top players out of France in any case …
Here’s a piece I wrote about the business of French football for today’s edition of The National*, published in Abu Dhabi, which the Lyon owner sees as a possible source of a big cash injection …
It has been a good week to be a Sunderland supporter, unlike the week before which began well with a win over QPR but was ruined by defeat in the FA Cup quarter finals against Everton, on what should have been a night of glory.
Nearly the double but not quite. If Tuesday’s FA Cup exit was a disappointment for the worst of reasons, then this was one for the best. It’s never satisfactory to see a two goal cushion go in the blinking of an eye, but at least Pete Sixsmith witnessed it, unlike the Man City fans who have learned nothing from the play off final against Gillingham in 1999. In a week where partnerships have been the subject of discussion on the site it was a Scandinavian duo that almost brought home the processed pig meat …
After Tuesday’s disappointment, today’s response against a side that hadn’t dropped a home point all season, has Martin O’Neill singing the praises of his team. Whilst ultimately this may be viewed as two points dropped, rather than one won, once again we have seen the manager’s ability to use the available players to achieve a positive result. To the rest of the world who expected the lads in red and white to be on the wrong end of a battering today, the manager’s words reflect his aspirations and send out a message to the rest of the Premier League.
A magnificent performance left Sunderland feeling that a draw at the Etihad stadium, where no team had won or – until today – drawn in the Premier League this season, amounted to two cruelly lost points.
