Hutch’s one-word ratings after Aston Villa defeat: who was drab, who was ‘crablike’?

Rob Hutchison: master of the one-word verdicts

Monsieur Salut writes: had I been able to make it – up for me, from London – for Chris Coleman’s first game in charge, I would have met up with not only Peter Sixsmith but Rob Hutchison and his daughter Olivia, all three familiar figures around these parts. My apologies for absence reached the Hutchisons as they – also heading north from exile – drove towards Birmingham.

At one down, as the second half started, Rob thought there was so little between the sides that Sunderland could go on and win if only they could first equalise. Cue a second Villa goal.

Here, then, is one of those Hutch specialities, Rob’s one-word man-by-man verdict (he described the whole experience as ‘drab, drab, drab; oh, it was so drab’ and will one day explain why Gibson was ‘crablike’) …

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Hutch’s Patch post-Chelsea: ‘culpable, fragile, tragic’ – match the words and players

Jake: ‘2016/17 season, bog off and don’t come back’
Rob Hutchison – inexplicably renamed Ron when this first appeared – gets to lots of games, almost all of them away since he’s exiled in the south. He and his daughter, Olivia, enjoy the day out, like meeting up with old and new friends and then – for the most part – endure the football. Here are Rob’s final one-word ratings of the season after watching the champions tear us apart at Stamford Bridge. ‘And so it’s done,’ says our man of few words. ‘Thank God for that.’ Monsieur Salut’s ratings at ESPN FC appear in parentheses and are not so different …

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Hutch’s Patch: Crystal Palace – big in Saigon

Hutch is speechless: help him with a caption

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Rob Hutchison, as most of us know, is a man of relatively few words. His one-word, one-mark ratings after each Sunderland game he attends (mostly the aways) can be caustic and cruel,  or more rarely ecstatic and encouraging. They are always succinct.

He’s struggling for the right words, any words this time, to sum up the poster you see above.

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Rob’s one word ratings. Who got a 4?

Rob Hutchison

Rob Hutchison recovered from the London Branch 50th birthday party and then found something else to celebrate. Here are his one-word ratings from the Palace match (or mismatch if you like).

They’re a bit better than those we’ve become accustomed to and doesn’t it feel good that they are so well merited?

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Bournemouth banter: (2) just one win but already part of Sunderland folklore

Olivia
Rob’s daughter Olivia would have loved this souvenir, but had to make do with dad taking a photo of another girl’s prize acquisition

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Bournemouth away was an occasion to remind supporters of Sunderland AFC, from nippers to long-in-the-tooth codgers, why they care so much about football. And this lovely piece from Rob Hutchison, the perfect complement to an excellent Chapman Report, captures our part of a special day …

“Which is the away end mate?” asked Colin, aka Monsieur Salut, as we approached the stadium. “Follow the voices”, the young friendly steward replied “They sound nothing like us!”.

We’d just been putting the world to rights in the Sir Percy Florence boozer with a few hundred other Mackems who had started drinking when the coaches left at 6am by the sound of the place.

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