Manchester United

Manchester United vs SAFC: recalling a glorious win when Jozy shone too

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Pete Sixsmith: ‘I waited a long time for this’


Four wins in seven games have given us all a lift – and Sunderland a chance. We know Old Trafford presents a stiffer test than Hull, Watford or hungover Leicester at home, or Bournemouth away for that matter.

But it is a test to which Sunderland have risen and should be capable of rising again. If a Manchester United victory seems the logical outcome, David Moyes has to persuade his men to believe they can cause an upset and play accordingly.

Towards the end of the 2013-2014 season, having already been there and won a League Cup semi-final on penalties, albeit as a bad a shoot-out as anyone could remember, Gus Poyet’s Sunderland went to Old Trafford on the back of great wins at Chelsea and at home to Cardiff, and a draw that ought to have been a win at the Etihad. Could we do it again and more or less ensure Premier League survival?

Pete Sixsmith was there. Let us start with Malcolm Dawson’s perfect scene-setting introduction and then marvel at the beauty of Sixer at his best – in each case as written in early May 2014
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Manchester United vs SAFC Guess the Score: a gift of Christmas present

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The winner gets glory – and a prize

Monsieur Salut spoke with forked tongue.

The Watford game was not, after all, the last of 2016 to be marked by a prize edition of Guess the Score. I have decided that even if it means the cat goes without food this Christmas, I will stump up for a mug for whoever is first to predict the correct score for Manchester United vs Sunderland on Boxing Day.

That’s my modest Christmas present – and anyone except me can enter. That means all who help keep Salut! Sunderland afloat are eligible for the life-changing prize – a mug with the winner’s choice of name as No 12.

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From Manchester United to Chapecoense: tragedies felt by the whole world of football

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In memorium
In memorium

Monsieur Salut writes: on reflection, I regretted that publication of a piece of levity prepared for Salut! Sunderland – Shaun Best on his groundhopping visit to the Stadium of Light – should coincide with the terrible news that a plane carrying 81 people, including players and officials of the Brazilian top-flight side ACF, or Associação Chapecoense de Futebol, had crashed in Colombia. Only six people survived. The human impact of any fatal air crash in enormous; the impact of this disaster on football, and not just in South America, is devastating.

The echoes of Manchester United, Munich and 1958 are inescapable. Shaun, the writer of the groundhopping piece, is a Man Utd supporter. As at Munich, great or greatly promising players, officials and accompanying journalists are among the victims. There are players who survived – just three according to the last report I saw – and there is, as in Munich, the story of at least one pulled alive from wreckage but dying soon afterwards.

As a further tribute to all those who perished, and to Chapecoense, a side with much of the the romantic appeal of the Busby Babes, I reproduce a piece I wrote for ESPN FC ahead of a Sunderland game against Man Utd three years ago ….

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Club of 92: Manchester rambler acclaims Pickford, Defoe, Victor and the SoL

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Shaun
Shaun Best: ‘out of the dark’

NB: what follows is a light-hearted read on what is otherwise a grim day for football. Salut! Sunderland declares its sympathy for all those killed in or bereaved by the Colombian air crash, whose victims include players and officials of the Brazilian top flight club ACF, or Associação Chapecoense de Futebol. As a Manchester Utd supporter, our guest writer will be well aware of his own club’s association with aviation disaster.

There are train spotters, bird twitchers and philatelists. And then there’s the Club of 72, whose members collect football stadiums, not to dismantle and take home but to visit. As Shaun Best – already familiar with the 72 Football League grounds – prepared to tick Sunderland off his to-do list, he was wondering who would be the manager by the time got there. We were winless and seemingly broken beyond repair. Then a funny thing happened: we won a game. Let Shaun take up the story of his newest collector’s item, the Stadium of Light …

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Salut! Sunderland welcomes Paddy McNair and Donald Love from Manchester United

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Salut! Sunderland is delighted to extend a warm welcome to Paddy McNair and Donald Love, our latest new recruits, whose much-touted transfers were finally announced by SAFC today.

None of the usual “undisclosed fee” nonsense; the club itself is happy to state the price – £5.5m to Manchester United for the pair, and you can bet your bottom dollar, pound or euro that the cost of the more experienced McNair took up the lion’s share of that total.

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The ‘Who are You?’ Awards frontrunners: West Brom, Tottenham … and Exeter

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Jake: 'with thanks to all opposing fans who participate'
Jake: ‘with thanks to all opposing fans who participate’

It is that time of year. Salut! Sunderland is preparing to make its annual HAWAY awards, honouring the best of our “Who are You?” interviewees among opposing supporters. The interviews ahead of each match often reach the highest standards (the answers, I mean with due modesty, not the questions) and we are delighted to offer awards to the best as voted by our panel of judges.

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Hammer blow: a noble adieu to West Ham’s Boleyn

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This has nothing and everything to do with being a Sunderland supporter. My old colleague Charlie Whebell is a West Ham fan, though he’d never pronounce the H, as you’ll see below. Tonight he’ll be at what we call Upton Park and ‘ammers call the Boleyn – but only in spirit – as his team bids farewell to the old place with one last game, against Man Utd. He’s actually thousands of miles away in Abu Dhabi, where every Premier League game is screened, so will miss nothing except the incomparable feeling of being in the ground itself. He wishes he could be in the East End and probably considered using up his annual free flight home to make it happen.

These thoughts, posted by Charlie on Facebook, will resonate with anyone who remembers leaving Roker Park, anyone whose memories go back to an era before purpose-built stadiums, good as our version undoubtedly is, and also anyone who just values the idea of being utterly passionate about your club and whatever corner of the world it was where you were born or grew up or have an unbreakable bond with …

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I’ve seen Man United fall, now I’m off to Montreal, Martin Bates, Martin Bates

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Excuse the coat. It was freezing
Excuse the coat. It was freezing

John McCormick writes: I’m not sure if the title line will make sense to you but when I was putting it up a song was going through my head and I thought…

“…why not, Martin Bates deserves a bit of appreciation”.

The only problem is I couldn’t fit Toronto in, so he’ll have to make do with Montreal.

Here’s the final part of Martin’s trilogy. By now he should have have winged his way back across the Atlantic but, after this game, he probably didn’t need a plane. What a send off.

Hope you enjoyed the trip, Martin, and thanks for the reports.

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