What are your best memories as a Sunderland supporter? As an exile I haven’t been to the SOL many times but I did see us win three and six times in a row, and though I was at Wembley in 1973 the semifinal is more lodged in my memory. That’s four games, to which I can add a win against the odds at Goodison when Danny bloody Graham scored.
Pete Sixsmith has been to so many more games he must have so many more good memories. Today he focuses on one game that really mattered:
playoffs
Sunderland and playoffs. Part three: drama at the Palace
Pete Sixsmith picks up our playoff saga and looks back to a season that left us feeling flat and deflated because of the way it ended. More of this next time, this is just the starter.
Sunderland and playoffs. Part two: Bramall Lane and Sheffield United
Monsieur Salut writes: Pete Sixsmith‘s habit of suggesting all manner of Sunderland-related series has been as beneficial to Salut! Sunderland as it has been exhausting for him. This is another rod he made for his own back, a look at playoff joys and sorrows of the past. The first instalment covering the opening act of a dramatic tragedy – when we had to beat Gillingham to avoid dropping to the third tier in 1987 – and the home leg of an exhilarating tussle with the Mags three years later can be found here.
I have patchily vivid memories of both the 1998 semi-final legs against Sheffield United (and, of course, the final). At Bramall Lane, I remember Kevin Ball’s goal putting us ahead to the accompaniment of a short but nasty outbreak of bother up in or near one of the hospitality boxes, United yobs reacting violently to the cheers of a few Sunderland supporters – an incident I was reminded of when I condemned an attack on a Pompey fan in a SoL home section recently.
Pete will now take you back 21 years to the first act in a gripping drama. There’ll be more next week, including video footage of the second leg, one of my own and Pete’s greatest nights at any Sunderland game (I couldn’t locate a clip from the Bramall Lane match though one must exist; Pete’s mention refers to a full review of the Blades’ 1997-98 season which includes highlights of both games; it cannot be embedded but is seen here). Meanwhile, don’t look at this season’s final tables (Championship and League One unless you want an annoying reality check …
Taylor made: amid the playoff jitters, transatlantic goodwill from a satisfied Sunderland supporter
Monsieur Salut writes: today’s post – snail mail and electronic – brought two messages from people called Bill. By proper post, from Sunderland, came a new album, Wonderful Fairy Tale, by one Bill – short for Belinda – Jones to which I am hugely looking forward to listening, not least because it cost her £2.60 to send it. Then came an uplifting piece on Sunderland AFC and how the playoffs look to a long-exiled Mackem with solid Wearside roots and a Bishop Auckland youth. Bill/Belinda is for another time and place, the somewhat neglected Salut! Live site. Here, conjured up on a flight home to Toronto (not the one near Bishop) from Seville is Bill Taylor’s slice of optimism …
A Wembley a Day: after Sunderland beat Newcastle, along came Swindon
John McCormick writes: I occasionally write about North-Western clubs and their tribulations on this website, but other than that I pay little heed to goings on in the football world outside the SoL. It came as something of a surprise to me when Swindon had their promotion rescinded and we went up instead. If you play through the second video clip – before and after the match highlights – you’ll realise that others knew something was amiss long before the game. So while I do feel for Swindon fans, I’m not going to say the club was harshly treated.
On the other hand, Pete Sixsmith, on an aeroplane somewhere over the Channel, definitely was:
Coventry hanging on to Doncaster and Charlton as Portsmouth chase Barnsley, Sunderland and Luton.
Another international break brings an opportunity to revisit the six clubs our readers* and the Coventry ninjas** chose way back in the summer, and I’ve added Doncaster and Luton Town, who thoroughly merit more than a mention.
I last visited this series at the end of January, when I had this to say:
“… before I go I must mention Coventry City. They will finish the month with only four points from a possible fifteen. February includes some winnable games but I can’t see them doing us any favours when they travel to Kenilworth Road. Mid-table safety looks to be their destiny and I’m almost certain they won’t be returning to this series.
But you never know, do you? That’s what football’s all about.”
For we are Sunderland, and we know not to get carried away
Here are four comments (or extracts from comments) made in response to posts on our site, and a few numbers from me to chew over in respect of them. Have a think about them, then form your own opinion – and why not then share it with us, like the good folk below?
Cardiff, Ipswich, Forest, Wolves and Sheffield Utd leave Villa, Fulham, Wednesday, Middlesbrough and SAFC standing
Do we know owt about football?
That’s what I asked a couple of years ago, when I was comparing a pre-season poll with end-of season positions. And that’s more or less what the Mrs said when I showed her the graph I’d done to compare the current championship placings with our readers’ pre-season expectations.
Just as the last time, the expectation is nothing like the reality, although it must be said that this time around it’s still early days.
Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, Fulham, Sheff Wed, Leeds and Sunderland – the ones to watch
As foretold, the poll we’ve been running slipped down the front page and then off it so, although it remained – indeed remains – live, it no-one has visited recently. Before it disappeared from view we’d had over 7,000 votes cast, with well over 1,200 people taking part, from all parts of the UK and beyond.
That’s enough to provide me with a guide as to which clubs we’ll report on as we try to get an idea of who’s heading out of the Championship in the right direction.
As the headline says, Sunderland’s in the mix, probably only because of the loyalty of diehard fans.
Has that loyalty been strained too much by recent events? Or did they, perhaps, inject a dose of realism? The poll’s still open, perhaps Norwich will make that jump from seventh before the season starts.
Birmingham, Wolves, Brentford, Forest, Cardiff, Preston, QPR and Ipswich go missing from our poll
I have to say I’m a bit surprised by the poll results to date.
‘Boro being top is reasonable. They have proved they are capable of handling the Championship, have money coming and have a decent manager.
Sunderland in the top six is understandable. It’s a Sunderland site, and no matter how jaundiced the fans are, no matter how concerned over the owner, there will always be a loyal following willing to vote for them.
But last season’s form has gone out of the window with this poll. Villa, who finished bang in the middle of the championship, are up there in second place, while Hull and Derby are out of the running. What’s going on?