While idly surfing for a way of extending velkommen to the Danish equivalent of “welcome to the madhouse”, I came across a comment that “Swedish is a language, Danish a throat infection”. it didn’t help much, but at least it made me chuckle.
Nicklas Bendtner, brought in on loan from Arsenal for a year, is a confident young man and if he has, in the eyes of some, an excess of that confidence, we have no need to worry about his mental state (or, so far as can be told, his throat).
Niall Quinn’s denial is welcomed and reported at this link. Rather puts Mr Alan Nixon of the Daily Mirror on the spot. Read on …
Last week Salut! Sunderland offered an unfashionable defence of football journalists after all the speculation surrounding Jordan Henderson, at least to the extent of pointing out that despite kneejerk condemnation of the press, the reports had turned out to be true in almost every respect.
The sting in the tail was the warning to take all such speculation with a pinch of salt, unless it seems convincingly sourced or has some sort of common sense basis.
But what on earth are we to make of this morning’s devastating headline above a report at Ghanasoccernet.com: Shock as Sunderland put up Asamoah Gyan for sale … ?
Our shadowy Birflatt Boy is quick to respond to the rotten question of whether it is ever Ok to bet on your team losing …
M Salut’s article on betting against your team – click here – prompted Birflatt to think of other dilemmas that anyone could potentially face by doing nothing worse than supporting their team.
Now Birflatt wouldn’t condone anyone betting against Sunderland in any circumstances other than those where the wager is intended to cover the costs of an away trip down to London, for example, and where the bitter taste of defeat is accentuated by the trip costing half a week’s wages.
A few seasons back when Peter Crouch was playing for Liverpool, they were drawn to play Chelsea in the semi-finals of the Champions League.
We just about got there. With the help of readers, a couple of emergency nominations and a spectacular own goal from Peter Crouch to fill the last gap (P for Peter), we now have targets for the odd burst of booing for each letter of the alphabet. The posting remains open to improvements suggested by Salut! Sunderland readers …
If you are thinking of nominating your own candidates, bear in mind the basic rules that appear in a footnote**:
* A is for Anyone who played what Johan Cruyff magisterially called anti-football, for the Netherlands versus Spain (see individual entries). And for Nicolas Anelka (see B)
So if some reports from the England camp are to be believed, Darren Bent may be one missed game away from being left behind when England head for South Africa.
Fair’s fair. With the hindsight not available to most fans – or any referees – when controversial incidents actually occur, Salut! Sunderland accepts that Kevin Friend got the penalty about right. A slightly reckless challenge, but not one that merited a red card. Some SAFC fans go further and echo Spurs supporters (not all) by calling it a dive, even if they also feel it was a penalty “about to happen”. Friends again, Kevin? More on all this later but first Pete Sixsmith delivers his own considered post-match verdict …
A six hour coach journey after a scarcely deserved defeat does an awful lot to concentrate the mind. Somewhere in the middle of the old Great North Road, probably between Newark and Retford, I suffered a terrible attack of fairness, not something usually associated with disappointed Sunderland fans.
Image: Wonker