Newcastle United - SAFC Blog

Coming clean on Newcastle and Middlesbrough connections

May 30, 2011 by Colin Randall

A posting at the main Salut! site, which you can see by clicking this link, mentions the subject only in passing, but it was sufficient to inspire a cartoonist, James Benn, to come up with a great illustration. It got me thinking: we’re all meant to hate the Mags, they hate us. We both used to hate Boro, and them us, but what with all that’s happened down on Teesside, we’ve all but forgotten one another’s existence. Maybe we should just all get a life …

Pete Sixsmith made a telling comment here the other day that should have made every thinking Sunderland supporter reconsider the kneejerk anti-Mag mantras they – we – adopt, and vice versa.

He was reacting to Jeremy Robson’s amusing look at the story of the two lads, from either side of the Wear-Tyne divide, who had a wager on who would finish higher: the loser had to go to the other club’s shop and buy and wear a top.

Salut!’s week: trouncing West Ham, overtaking Newcastle .. Man United v Barcelona

May 28, 2011 by Colin Randall

One week ago, we were worried that our depleted team we might be embarrassed at Upton Park, leaving us a place worse off than this time last season at lowly 14th. The 3-0 win made us eat our words, and very tasty they were too, at the start of a frantic week in which we ran three end-of-season reports, previewed the “Who are You?” awards and intruded on the higher ground of the Champions’ League. If you missed anything or want a reminder, read on …

The unmagical figure of £46 at one point raised the possibility that our final game of the season would be played out in the absence of the magical figure of Pete Sixsmith.

He swallowed his pride, overcame his anger with Sullivan and Gold and forgot pre-retirement impoverishment to opt for the day out anyway. And had a jolly good time. Click here to see his account of a good win which may have been against a thoroughly bad, demoralised side but lifted us to 10th place, two above Newcastle United (though the end-of-season reviews – see below – put that in perpective).

What else did we dream up in the hope of entertaining or stimulating supporters of Sunderland AFC – and the many others who stray in here because, well, because they do?

Having a Newcastle pal is one thing – but wear his shirt?

May 27, 2011 by Colin Randall

Actually the boot was on the other foot, or the shirt on the other back. Two mates, one a Mackem and the other a Mag, had a bet on who would finish higher … you’ve probably guessed the forfeit but can read all about it by clicking here. It reminds M Salut of the Celebrity Supporter interview with a young Sunderland actor Sean Landless (pictured), who starred with Billy Connolly in Gabriel and Me. The part called for Sean, as a Toon-supporting Tyneside teenager, to try turning himself into an angel to save his cancer-stricken father. “I had to dress up in a sort of feathery dress,” he said. “But having to wear the Newcastle shirt was worse.”

The first story tickled Jeremy Robson‘s fancy …

Reading this story in the Sunderland Echo about two mates, Andy White and Josh Dyer, the first of whom supports Newcastle Utd and the other the mighty Mackems, made me laugh; or should I say cringe almost uncontrollably and then laugh.

The thought of wearing one of their shirts is completely repugnant. I just couldn’t do it. It strikes me as a strange mentality that these lads possess, in order to enter into such a thing.

Sunderland report cards: (1) progress achieved, but Newcastle can smile too

May 24, 2011 by Colin Randall

As Niall Quinn prepares to convene his inquest into the more troubling aspects of a season that ended quite happily, Salut! Sunderland begins its own review of events from August to May. As promised, our contributors are applying their own powers of scrutiny and analysis to the questions of what went right, and what went wrong. M Salut gets the game under way …

First of all, an admission. In the immediate post-match glow of seeing Sunderland rise to a respectable 10th place finish, I overlooked two details: unbeaten in London and ending the season above Newcastle United.

Of course both matter, up to a point. We can be proud of having beaten Chelsea and West Ham away, with draws at Fulham, Arsenal and Spurs. And it is gratifying to remain the top North-eastern club. But I agree with the comment from “Billy the Fish”, which appeared here among responses to Pete Sixsmith’s matchday report from Upton Park, that we should really be concerned with our own performances, our own need for trophies.

Time gentlemen please to forget humbling Leeds and Newcastle

May 6, 2011 by Colin Randall

This is not intended as a breach of Salut! Sunderland‘s new commitment to get-behind-the-lads positivism in the run-up to the match (on the grounds that hostilities can always be resumed at 5pm). More of a general view on where we are as a club, what we actually want and whether it is time to stop harping on about past triumphs. And then, loyal readers and gloating visitors, it is over to you …

Much of Thursday passed without me realising the significance of the date: May 5. Then I remembered. And once reminded, I knew like everyone else what had happened on the same date 38 years ago. Did I say everyone else? Who else, apart from us, Leeds and a few football anoraks, actually feels any need to recall the 1973 FA Cup Final?

Who are You? Mick Quinn’s divided Liverpool and Newcastle loyalties

March 20, 2011 by Colin Randall

Salut! Sunderland casts its net far and wide in search of interesting candidates for the Who are You? series. For today’s return to Premier action – Sunderland v Liverpool – we found Mick Quinn, who grew up on the Kop but had to play his football at downtrodden stadiums in places like Newcastle and Portsmouth. Mick has fully recovered from such adversity and now works for TalkSport, covering football and horseracing. And he was a cracking interviewee. The full Q&A can be seen here but , for those in a hurry who missed it first time round, one or two extracts follow …

Salut! Sunderland In the end, was it right – for Liverpool too – that Torres went?

Yes, I think so. Don’t get me wrong: he is a top quality striker who on the top of his game is the best in the world for me. Just look at some of the goals he has scored. And I have never changed my opinion on that. But for one reason or another, and there were those three ops in 18 months, he was sulking like a big kid because he felt he’d been promised quite a bit by Hodgson on the players he’d bring in but then didn’t. But we’ve brought in two quality strikers so that is a good bit of business in the end.

SAFC v Liverpool: boy from Kop who proudly wore Newcastle No 9

March 17, 2011 by Colin Randall

‘I’m the real Mighty Quinn’

The star in our Who Are You? hot seat ahead of the sell-out Sunderland v Liverpool clash on Sunday is Mick Quinn, interviewed by phone and text messages. Growing up in Liverpool, this Quinny supported the Reds from the Kop, but had to travel far afield to make a career as a burly, aggressive centre forward. Now a radio presenter with TalkSport, he says his passion is deeper than ever, though three years on Tyneside also left him with lasting affection for Newcastle United …

Salut! Sunderland: Roy Hodgson has gone, Torres too. But is it fair to assume Sunderland will be facing a totally different challenge from Liverpool than when we nearly beat them at Anfield?

Completey different. Everything looks more positive with Kenny putting a smile back on everyone’s faces. Before they were pretty downcast for one reason or another, with players looking as if they were not enjoying it. But they look a completely changed side now.

So near, so far: Wigan to Newcastle, Lens to Lorient

May 14, 2013March 8, 2011 by Colin Randall

Another instalment of French Fancies, Salut! Sunderland‘s occasional dip into football as it’s played on the other side of La Manche – with a comparison of tight competition in the top flights of both France and England and news of the latest phase of David Bellion’s footballing career …

It is time for M Salut to take another glance at the French Ligue 1. And there is one striking similarity between what is going on there and in our own Premier League season.

Look at ninth position in the PL and eighth in Ligue 1: our friends up the road at Newcastle United on 36 points in England, Lorient on 36 in France.

A Sunderland-Newcastle match to triumph over tragedy

February 14, 2011 by Colin Randall

A break from meaningful football – Fabio Capello would know what I mean – sets the mind wandering. Mine strayed to Abu Dhabi and two colleagues from my time there who have just tied the knot, producing another mismatch in the history of Mackem/Mag marriages …

It may be Valentine’s Day but no one has ever accused Salut! Sunderland of being an incurable romantic.

We were deeply moved all the same by the story Georgia Lewis told here in April last year about the appalling event that brought a tragic end to her relationship with a Sunderland fan, whom she had met while both were working in Dubai, and the happiness she later managed to find – also in the UAE – with a Mag.

Well, the love story that transcends tribal differences has had its logical conclusion.

Steve Bruce: riding our luck against Newcastle

January 17, 2011 by Colin Randall

Joan Dawson is doing such a grand job as acting editor that it seems almost wrong to intrude, and Steve Bruce‘s post-match comments hardly match Pete Sixsmith’s for wit and incisiveness (see this report). But here, nonetheless, are Steve’ s thoughts – which found their way to M Salut in Malaysia – on a game in which Newcastle started much the sharper, coped with our lively response and went on to dominate. No dispute at Salut! Sunderland on who merited three points …

Dear Colin,

When you’re behind in a derby game and score 30 seconds from the end then of course you are pleased.