Premier League - SAFC Blog

Leicester Who are You?: ‘Foxes should stay up, maybe SAFC too’

December 6, 2016December 1, 2016 by Colin Randall

Gizza Walker's crisp, Tim ... — Gizza a Walker’s crisp, Tim …

Monsieur Salut writes: Tim Burke* has Millwall connections and should perhaps be wearing a ‘you all hate us, we don’t care’ T-shirt. Instead, he fell in love with the Foxes after moving to Leicester and much of the footballing world fell in love with his adopted team in May. It was a season he enjoyed for a reason never experienced by a Sunderland supporter who was not alive in 1936. This season? Tim’s happy, even if tongue in cheek, to avoid the drop . Great attitude and great replies – and maybe he can take heart from Sunderland’s history; we won the FA Cup in the season following our last top flight title …

From France with love: for Chelsea, Arsenal but Sunderland and Burnley too

November 30, 2016 by Colin Randall

Remi Carlu: ‘maybe Sunderland need to go down’

It came out of the blue. A message from a Twitter user plugging Heristage, ‘the only French-language site dedicated to English football’. The message directed me to a long and superbly detailed analysis (in French but at this link) of Sunderland AFC’s ‘Bank of England’ era, that period of the 1950s that older supporters identify as the trigger for our decline.

Heristage turned out to be the work of Rémi Carlu*, a young, half-French/half-English lover of the game as played here, the country of his mother. He’s currently studying back in the UK and happily agreed to explain himself. Rémi doesn’t support Sunderland – he favours Chelsea (mmm…) – but cares enough about his chosen project to have researched us thoroughly; he also thinks, I’m afraid, that we should accept relegation in return for rebuild …

But all his views are fascinating, all the more so coming from a semi-outsider. I commend this to you as a great read …

Sunderland vs Leicester City Guess the Score. Beatable champions

December 3, 2016November 30, 2016 by Colin Randall

Art of Football captures a magical moment

See these (above) and other Art of Football prints by clicking anywhere on this caption

Two good wins followed by a logical defeat at Anfield after we’d held out well for 75 minutes and even had two good chances to go ahead.

The positive way to look at our last three games is not to think in terms of two-steps-forward-one-back but to see each of them offering signs that we can break free of the bottom three.

Club of 92: Manchester rambler acclaims Pickford, Defoe, Victor and the SoL

November 29, 2016 by Colin Randall

NB: what follows is a light-hearted read on what is otherwise a grim day for football. Salut! Sunderland declares its sympathy for all those killed in or bereaved by the Colombian air crash, whose victims include players and officials of the Brazilian top flight club ACF, or Associação Chapecoense de Futebol. As a Manchester Utd supporter, our guest writer will be well aware of his own club’s association with aviation disaster.

There are train spotters, bird twitchers and philatelists. And then there’s the Club of 72, whose members collect football stadiums, not to dismantle and take home but to visit. As Shaun Best – already familiar with the 72 Football League grounds – prepared to tick Sunderland off his to-do list, he was wondering who would be the manager by the time got there. We were winless and seemingly broken beyond repair. Then a funny thing happened: we won a game. Let Shaun take up the story of his newest collector’s item, the Stadium of Light …

Sixer’s sub’s soapbox: Liverpool just too good

November 27, 2016November 27, 2016 by Colin Randall

I think the last match I got to was the same fixture in February, when we came back from 2-0 down to get a draw, thanks to Jermain Defoe and the now disgraced Adam Johnson. Johnson had come on as sub for Jan Kirchoff, another of the eight who were on the team sheet in February but missing from it this time around.

Moyes on the Boys v Liverpool: close, but no cigar at Anfield

November 26, 2016 by Colin Randall

John McCormick writes…..

I was there, and might give you my opinion later. First, though, here’s what the manager thought.

Or, at least, here’s what the manager decided to share with Colin, and maybe one or two others:

Sixer’s Sevens: Liverpool 2-0 Sunderland. Honourable defeat

November 26, 2016 by Colin Randall

Jake: a logical result, makes Leicester at home rather important

Monsieur Salut writes: Pete Sixsmith gave this one a miss so I am the the stand-in for his usual seven-word verdict on a game in which we looked just about able to avoid defeat for 75 minutes. It took a clever piece of play by Divock Origi to break our strong resistance led by John O’Shea and Lamine Kone and we might even have snatched a lead against the run of the play with earlier chances that fell to Pienaar and Watmore. Ndong’s late foul that gave Liverpool a second from the penalty spot looked needless but probably didn’t change an outcome that by then seemed inevitable. No dishonour, then, but we were not able to bridge the quality gap …

Bob Cass RIP: snooker with the Lads on eve of Leeds final

November 25, 2016November 24, 2016 by Colin Randall

Monsieur Salut writes: Norman Giller, at Facebook, kindly gave permission for Salut! Sunderland to reproduce these words, from the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) website, marking the sad passing of a man whose name was and is synonimous with the reporting of football in the North East. I met Bob Cass only once, on the pitch at Roker Park when SAFC held an open day for the media after reaching the 1992 FA Cup Final (I had spomehow persuaded someone at the Telegraph to let me cover it). But until other forms of media began to replace print, it was impossible to have grown up the NE and like football without being aware of Bob and his work …

Young Hayley spots Sunderland’s Dunfermline connection and interviews Allan ‘Magic’ Johnston

November 24, 2016November 24, 2016 by Colin Randall

Monsieur Salut writes: in a sign of age, I imposed ‘Hayley Mulls’ on our charming young writer Hayley Penman as the generic title for her occasional offerings here. And how welcome those contributions are. With gentle paternal guidance from our old friend John Penman, Hayley – just 12 on November 14 – came up with the idea of interviewing two men associated with the clubs that matter to her, Sunderland and Dunfermline. One day, we (or she) will come up with ideas for a better collective title for her articles than Hayley Mulls – and one day David Moyes, who admittedly has had more pressing matters on his plate, may add the missing responses to her questions …

Liverpool Who are you?: ‘5-0 to us, but SAFC making survival possible’

November 24, 2016November 23, 2016 by Colin Randall

Gareth Roberts, left, with Eric Meijer, who achieved cult status among Liverpool fans despite being at Anfield for only a short time

Gareth Roberts*, editor of the ‘leading independent voice on Liverpool FC’, The Anfield Wrap, comes up with a scoreline prediction none of us will thank him for. But he also answers our questions with an informed and informative manner, defending Jurgen Klopp in his spats with the media, acclaiming the two Jordans, doubting Mignolet’s Anfield future and, naturally, going for Liverpool to win the title …