Newcastle United

Newcastle’s Barton brushes aside Arsenal’s Gervinho in cheating stakes

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Red & White in Black & WhiteMrs Logic in whimsical mood

Yesterday’s harmless piece of fun had our neighbours foaming at the mouths, most of them spectacularly missing the point that the writer, Pete Sixsmith, was quoting words written by someone else (though amid all the charges of “drivel”, “boring”, “gash” and “*****”, one lad did nobly own up to knowing who Sandy Denny was). But derby week being what it is, the banter must go on …

Even the leader of Newcastle’s care-in-the-community brigade now admits he was wrong to call Gervinho a cheat, however much the Arsenal player made of the contact he received in the United penalty box.

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At last: something to unite Sunderland and Newcastle supporters

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Courtsey of Yahoo, Salut! Sunderland has been chosen to invite fans from across the two-rivers divide to try their luck in a competition with an unusual prize …

All the silly banter – and yes, it goes both ways – shown in the previous posting cannot disguise the fact that for all our differences, especially with regard to how we see ourselves in the footballing hierarchy, Sunderland and Newcastle supporters have plenty in common.

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SAFC v Newcastle United: ‘the planet’s least successful club’

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Right, there’s a great Newcastle United “Who Are You?’ on its way and we may even devote a piece to Joey Barton, whose hopes of reinventing himself as a philosophical and well-read reformed thug have suffered recent setbacks. For now, Pete Sixsmith dips into a work of contemporary literature Joey, too busy exploring Song of the Day at Salut! Live, may not yet have reached …

Due to the appalling weather we have had this “summer”, my reading output has increased considerably.

Unlike Joey Barton, I have resisted the temptations of Nietzsche and Orwell and stuck to more humble fare, one of which is an excellent tome by Matthew Norman called You Cannot Be Serious.

The second title is The 101 Most Infuriating Things In Sport and Norman looks at er, 101 things in sport that really annoy him, ranging from Tim Henman’s parents , the Offside Rule in Rugby Union and Alan Green.

No doubt had he been writing it now, Peter Allis (“the Socrates of snug bar philosophy”) would have been relegated from the No 1 spot by the burglar-foiling, Gervinho-pulling Twitter merchant known as Joey B.

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Newcastle’s Joey Barton, Arsenal’s Gervinho: a marriage made in heaven

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It began as a question in our Who Are You? series of pre-match interviews with the fans of opposing clubs, about diving and other forms of cheating.

Then it became the Eduardo Question, in honour of the Brazilian-born Croatian player’s monumental contribution to the art, and finally the Walcott Question as a sincere tribute to Theo for his candid admission – coupled with an apology – that he had dived in an unsuccessful attempt to con a referee.

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Luke’s World: bring on Liverpool and Newcastle. I can’t wait

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Luke Harvey, another of our regular writers, offers a hardcore enthusiast’s welcome to the return – gormless rioters permitting – of the football season …

You’ll have heard the rumours: football is back.

It doesn’t feel like very long since the season ended. For Manchester United fans I’m sure the defeat at the hands of Barcelona is still providing a dull ache somewhere within, despite the FA Community Shield victory over Man City.

But the football league is definitely back, and it will surely provide the thrills and spills as well as plenty of other assorted clichés along the way.

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Sunderland-Newcastle competition: not a prize to change winner’s life

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Tonight’s friendly on the pre-season German tour is Hannover v Sunderland and comment will be posted here, probably tomorrow.

In the meantime, two bits of Salut! Sunderland housekeeping: a winner in the trifling competition that went with the posting headlined Sunderland, Newcastle and things we have in common, and an update on the Ithics Files.

I said the writer of the Wear-Tyne comment judged (by me) to be the warmest, wittiest or most wise would collect the back copes of the Sunderland AFC Supporters’ Association London & SE branch magazine, Wear Down South and its predecessor 5573.

It was a close-run thing, but in the end my choice means no ceremonial bonfire will be necessary as the decision goes to a Sunderland supporter. A Newcastle United fan – see later – got within a whisker of being offered the same prize and is probably counting his lucky stars to have come only second.

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Sunderland, Newcastle and things we have in common

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Look: these are just random thoughts on a quiet day/night. Joan Dawson, who edits here whenever M Salut is away or incapable, or both, has a bundle of old editions of 5573, later known as Wear Down South, estimable newsletter of the London & SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association, which will end up at the council tip unless someone claims them. Best response to this modest posting gets the lot, with M Salut paying the postage. A Mag winner – and be patient if your comment takes a while to appear – could always have a ceremonial bonfire …


Any mention of Newcastle brings Mags to the site in droves, and I am delighted that it does.

Broadly speaking, they loathe us and we, being more sportsmanlike, have misgivings about them.

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Fixtures: beat Liverpool, Newcastle, Swansea to lead Premier by Aug 27

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Not such a tall oder then. Having grabbed nine points from an easy start to the 2011-12 season, we would need only to hold our own until the final, title-clinching game at home to Manchester United on May 13. The heavies of the Football Data Co stand between Salut! Sunderland and publication of the full list, but we can say it should be taken with a sizeable pinch of salt.. As Pete Sixsmith points out, the first two games are already prime targets for switching …

Liverpool away, Newcastle at home. The old fixture computer has certainly given us a couple of beauties to start the season with. Jordan Henderson and Andy Carroll followed by whatever ragtag bunch of nonentities Pardew has managed to throw together over the summer. And we have three weeks to clean up the mess that the overweight sweaty ones invariably leave behind.

Unfortunately, I can’t see either of these two starting at 3pm on a Saturday. The media’s long running love affair with all things Anfield and Dalglish, plus the expected involvement of Jordan, will have Sky and ESPN going weak at the knees on an opening day which has no real standout game.

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Newcastle, Aston Villa and that shrinking feeling

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We had some lively banter here last week with Villa fans on the essentially unimportant matter of who supports the bigger club. See it here. At least Villans don’t live in a part of the West Midlands with such an alarmingly shrinking population as poor old Newcastle seems to have. But what on earth do they make of their club’s latest attempt to lure a world-class new manager? …

Having failed to secure the services of a manager who very nearly took his team down, Aston Villa are reported to be taking the process one logical step further.

The new Villa target is evidently Alex McLeish who got quite a lot right at Birmingham City – that great run in the 2009-2010 season, and winning the Carling Cup last season – but managed to get one rather important thing very wrong indeed.

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