The headline, as William Boot would have said in Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop, is correct up to a point. Peter Lynn, better known around here as Wrinkly Pete, has spent much of the season in front an imaginary crystal ball, predicting the outcome of each game and checking how it affects his once-firm belief that Sunderland would survive on 37 points.
While such a tally would mean winning six (of five plus two draws) of the remaining ties, at least Leicester didn’t mess up his calculations since he had us down to lose in any case. Here’s how Pete still thinks – prays? – we can still do it, with original predictions and the points target suitably amended ..
Peter Lynn
Wrinkly Pete’s Crystal Ball. ‘If my memory serves me well’
John McCormick writes: Wrinkly Pete often illuminates his posts with reference to old songs which, given most of our readers can remember us winning a trophy, still resonate. He missed one, though, but I spotted it and stuck it in the title.
Read on and you’ll find it somewhere in his prose. So this week’s quiz is:
What’s the title, and can you identify any singers/groups and the years in which they recorded versions?
No prizes, but there are at least four to find, and all from different years, if my memory serves me well. And if you think I’m looking back to keep my mind from pondering what lies ahead, maybe I am, not that Wrinkly Pete agrees.
Wrinkly Pete’s SOS: the post-palace pennyworth
When Peter Lynn, young-at-heart but prematurely aged physically by watching Sunderland, began his exercise in calculating how the rest of the season would go, he concluded that 37 points would be enough for survival – and that we’d get them.
After enduring the atrocious displays at home to Stoke and then at West Brom, even forgetting the equally clueless cup exit at Burnley in between, you might have expected him to chuck in the towel.
Not so.
Pete predicted no points against Stoke, knew we’d be booted out of the FA Cup at Turf Moor, and bargained on only a draw at the Hawthorns. He was wrong in his expectation of a win against Spurs.
And he was wrong in his prediction against Crystal Palace. But weren’t we all?
Now read on:
Pop goes Wrinkly Pete again, charting SAFC’s escape even without beating Stoke
Peter Lynn dips back into his collection of dodgy old hits for inspiration as he does some back-of-envelope calculations on what David Moyes needs from the second half of the season if Sunderland are yet again to avoid the drop. He even allows for the unthinkable, losing at home to Stoke on Saturday , as he steers us to safety…
I’m sending out an SOS, ‘cos I’m in so much distress
So sang Edwin Starr on his hit Stop Her On Sight and I am hoping that I will not feel the same as I begin my four-hour drive home, post match on Saturday.
If David Moyes, pre-match on Saturday, can get his team to realise that this is War, another of Starr’s hits, then we might get a win and make a further small (?) step towards safety.
Wrinkly Pete says what we’re thinking: ‘beginning to look a lot like Christmas’
John McCormick writes: Wrinkly Pete is quite prescient. I was thinking of doing a relegation review before the end of the week and might still do so, depending on what comes down the Salut chimney in the next few days. I know there’s a “Who are you?” due but there may well be other posts – and you can take that as an invitation to send us something of your own if you wish. Like our esteemed manager we’re always on the lookout for young talent and not above taking on a good old’n.
Which, I suppose, returns me to Wrinkly Pete himself:
Wrinkly Pete tells boo boys: ‘you don’t know what you’re doing; please stop’
Stop Press Update: there’s a lively debate at Ready to Go’s Pure Football forum after someone posted a link to Wrinkly Pete’s piece – http://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/sault-taking-a-pop-at-the-fans.1295474/
Here’s something to take minds off wretched news from Out West. The e-mail from Peter Lynn – Wrinkly Pete to us – read: ‘I don’t always agree with Malcolm Dawson but his comments in the thread on one of the Bournemouth game articles struck a chord and prompted me to get this off my chest.’ He’s thinking of the new aggression detected from a section of our generally magnificent support towards our own players. We’ve all witnessed it and, while it should not be exaggerated, it is an issue worth discussing …
Season reviews (4): the love story continues now let’s climb every mountain
Wrinkly Pete aka Peter Lynn has been delving into his record collection again to provide the inspiration for his end …
Wrinkly Pete’s points projection sends Newcastle and Norwich down. Now you vote
Read Peter Lynn‘s assessment of the relegation run-in and why he believes it favours Sunderland. Check the remaining fixtures – see footnote – for yourselves and vote. Since Monsieur Salut and his Norwich and Newcastle bloggers at ESPN FC all put their teams to finish 17th, we can hardly be surprised if the poll results reflect similar partisan hopes. But have a go all the same – some people may even be objective …
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Wrinkly Pete: seven games to go, seven reasons to be cheerful
Roll up, roll up and see what one satisfied customer, with a little help from the much-missed Ian Dury, has to say. Peter Lynn’s trip home is a long one, even from home games, but he travelled back to his Midlands nest in good cheerful spirits after the West Brom game. Like Pete Sixsmith on a shorter hop to Shildon, he glanced at the faces of fans on the returning WBA coaches and looked in vain for signs of happiness at what they’d just seen served up by Pulis’s men. Here’s Wrinkly Pete’s list of a Sunderland supporter’s reasons to be cheerful (it started as six, but he’s added an even more upbeat seventh) …
Wrinkly Pete: back to bed, back to reality after Newcastle disappointment
John McCormick writes: I’ll update my “relegation watch” charts over the empty weekend (aren’t all weekends empty these days?) and you can work out just what our chances are of surviving the drop from some numbers that are looking less dodgy with every match. In the meantime, here’s Peter Lynn, AKA Wrinkly Pete, with some reasons why we should not be feeling too happy after taking four points from our arch enemy