Malcolm Dawson writes……man of few words Rob Hutchison (he of the one word player ratings) is becoming more garrulous these …
Colin Randall writes: Here are David Moyes’s thoughts – as expressed in his post-match e-mail to me and thousands more – on the 2-1 win that earned Sunderland a 4th Round EFL Cup tie at Southampton …
Rob Hutchison enjoys a winning Sunderland game and a hugely encouraging star role for Didier (or Ibrahim – take your pick) Ndong. ‘Songs I never thought I’d hear,’ says Rob. ‘Paddy McNair, he scores when he wants.’ Up and running. Made to work for it mind. Moyes does have a plan after all…
John McCormick writes: Rodney Marsh had moved from QPR by the time I went to live in London but they were still a club to admire.
Panache, perhaps, would be the word that best fitted them as they came close, oh, so close, to winning the League, and how we neutrals wanted them to.
John McCormick writes: David Moyes said he will be putting out a strong team on Wednesday and I’ll give you a chance to guess the score shortly. Firstly, to help you apply your intellect, here’s one of Colin’s former colleagues, John Crowley, to tell us what’s happening now to the club we all liked way back in the seventies.
Over to John:
The season before last we won only 7 games and we stayed up. We even finished above Aston Villa, who won 10, as well as QPR and Hull City, whose 8 wins each could not stave off relegation. The other relegated team, Burnley, had 7 wins, the same as us.
The difference between us and Burnley was that we achieved 17 draws, and lost only (only??) 14 games. They could manage only 12 draws, and their five fewer points meant they finished second bottom, three places below us.
And thinking about that got me started on the notion of win-loss ratios, which became the tool I used to track clubs in last season’s relegation watch.
At the start of last season I chose three relegation candidates (QPR, Hull and Aston Villa) and two reserves (Southampton and West Brom) on the basis of PL history and some iffy statistics.
As you might expect, I got some stick from fans who didn’t like my forecast:
Mr QPR said “What a rubbish article, how can a Sunderland fan have any view on relegation when they will be one of the teams themselves”
Germany Tiger said Hull had improved significantly as well as: “You are the only one (and I’ve read a lot) who have Hull in a relegation spot, which suggests to me that there is still a bit of disappointment at being put to the sword 3 times last season by the Tigers and I predict a few more this season also….. oh if we could only play Sunderland every week… deep joy!!”
Bald ugly bloke was a bit more restrained, and perhaps a bit more optimistic: “Laughable that you have Hull City in the 3! The Tigers will be pushing top half.”
Having been around for a few seasons, Swallavc was much more measured: “Aston Villa have been relegated in 0% of premier league seasons and therefore will be safe!”
I could go on, but what I’d prefer to say is that many of the readers, SAFC fans and others, were prepared to give their opinions on relegation candidates, as well as of my words . I’ll come back to this at the end.
So Burnley departed the Premier with great grace, leaving a gift for the other strugglers by dumping Hull right in it. QPR capitulated at the Etihad and there`s just one relegation place left …
Let’s start with controversy. I don’t really want Newcastle United to go down, except if it’s instead of us. And I’ll be hoping for Boro to progress on Friday to the playoff final, followed by victory at Wembley.
Let’s see if the Sunderland ‘will we survive?’ poll can perk up a little more from our viewpoint. The Yes and Maybe votes, though still lagging well behind, are higher than at any time since poll was launched but always bear there have been many No camp followers among fans of other drop zone clubs) …
[polldaddy poll=8818549]
And now for a quick expansion of the poll to find out who Salut! Sunderland readers (who, don’t forget, may well again include supporters of the other six clubs) think will go down.
[polldaddy poll=8818549]
It’s fair to say the headline was designed to attract supporters of all the relegation-threatened clubs, not just ours, so be aware that they may well be influencing the early No vote on SAFC’s chances of survival (whatever our own feelings!) …
Not everyone who supports our favourite club – I nearly wrote “only club” but retain a very soft spot indeed for Shildon AFC – lives in Sunderland or the North East.
Even those who do may not see the Sunderland Echo or Shields Gazette as often as they should. And we do not all, always, follow what the local press is saying online.
So every now and then, it seems a good idea to draw Salut! Sunderland readers’ attention to a piece that seems to capture our thoughts or put present circumstances in some reasonable order.