A Wembley a Day: when Norwich had a better season than Sunderland – but not by much

Courtesy of safc.com

John McCormick writes: 1985, Liverpool. Someone in a taxi had kindly left a redundancy notice with my name on it at the door of  my workplace. I had two very young kids. I’d just moved house, only to be clobbered by a series of mortgage rate rises – 13.5 per cent springs to mind – and I had no spare cash. Going to the League Cup final hardly entered my mind and I never tried to get myself a ticket. It was one of those things.

So was the game, as Pete Sixsmith recounts:

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Sixer’s Sevens – Norwich City: as Sunderland let the lifeline slip

Malcolm Dawson writes…..things are so bad at the moment for Sunderland supporters that here at Salut! Sunderland M Salut has gone en vacances sur la plage and John Mac is as we speak, jetting away de vacaciones en la playa, leaving me to update the site from a wet and dreary Weardale and Peter Sixsmith, after presumably a wet and dreary wander along Seaburn sea front, to trudge along to the Stadium of Light and take up his customary position in the East Stand to bring us his instant seven word verdict. Canaries were once common throughout the North East coalmines to forewarn of impending disaster. Was this evening the final flicker of the Championship flame or was there a bit of spark to cheer our wordmeister on a wet and miserable night.  I’ll bet you’ve got a fair idea but let’s see what he has to say in his immediate post match seven word summary.

Jake: Sixer’s in

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The First Time Ever I Saw Your Team: Norwich City

Pete Sixsmith

John McCormick writes: the cup tie at Carrow Road mentioned below has a certain resonance but I don’t remember the replay. 1968 is very much a time when I’d have been there but there’s nothing, absolutely nothing, that I remember about it.

Pete Sixsmith, once again, comes to the rescue. He was there. He remembers it. He leaves me hanging my head in shame.  I can say no more and I humbly apologise, much as so many of our players should do.

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SAFC vs Norwich City Who are You?: on Grabban, Delia … and Ricky van Wolfswinkel

Black Dog: ‘Black Cats don’t scare me’

Monsieur Salut writes: the curtain seems almost down on as bad a season as most Sunderland fans have experienced. Thanks Ellis Short – near the top of the Championship table for money spent of agents’ fees, near the bottom for investment on players and next to bottom of the league when not actually bottom.

Martin Penney is our Norwich City interviewee. He has missed all of five of the Canaries’ home games in 30 years. He’s from the Norwich MyFootballWriter site and the dog you see above, poised to bark loudly at the Black Cats, is ‘a Patterdale called Geezer after the best bassist in the entire world – Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath’. There you have it, and here are his excellent responses to Salut! Sunderland‘s questions …

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Norwich Guess the Score: to think we’ll be at the World Cup

Enter for fun or to win a mug

Monsieur Salut writes: a family holiday looms so this is being prepared between Black Monday, perhaps the defining moment of a wretched season when even a half-decent performance was undone by the usual defensive frailties, and whatever happens at Leeds. I leave it to Salut! Sunderland colleagues to update this introduction as they see fit after Elland Road. For now, I shall combine the usual prize Guess the Score competition for the next home game, Norwich City and a rare chance to record a double, with some thoughts from elsewhere on a competition that seems to have little or nothing to do with the preoccupations of a club heading for League One (or not, according to results) …

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A champion Championship series: the first time Sixer saw your ground or your team

Sixer tastes the tropical flavour of a County Durham winter as he delivers the papers

Most weeks, readers of Salut! Sunderland drop by on Friday morning to catch the latest instalment in Pete Sixsmith’s twin series, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Ground (if the game in question is away), Team (if it’s at the Stadium of Light).

This week, the Millwall edition was posted earlier than usual – namely at this link.

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Sixer’s Norwich Soapbox: Players are showing commitment to the club and to the support

Pete Sixsmith then (as in not so long ago)

John McCormick writes: Pete Sixsmith has finally made it home from seat U2 in the Carrow Road football stadium (hence the reference in the introduction to Saturday’s Sevens).  He probably has just enough time to grab some rest before he heads off to Sheffield. But before he gets his head down here he is with the heads up on a game more than a few of us expected to be difficult.

As ever, it’s a fine piece of writing. The bonus is that this time it’s about an excellent Sunderland performance:

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