SAFC

The day they knew Brian Clough’s career was doomed

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Our magnificent man in his flying machine is Bill Taylor, who lives in Canada these days but is a Sunderland-daft Bishop lad. He has never lost the passion despite living thousands of miles from County Durham and even becoming a naturalised Canadian. Older fans will identify with his nostalgic memories of an early introduction to Roker Park; younger ones will get an idea of what it was like. You’ll guess from the ending that it was written before Saturday’s game when Cattermole not only remained uninjured and unpunished but had a blinder …

I first heard the Roker Roar from a distance, a backyard a couple of streets away from the Fulwell End. I can’t have been any more than five at the time.

“What’s that?” I asked. And my dad replied: “Sounds like the Lads just put one in.”

The Lads?

“Sunderland,” he said, a bit testily as if I should’ve known without asking. “The team. OUR team.”

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Soapbox at Accrington Stanley: Joe Hinnigan, who’s Joe Hinnigan exactly?

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Fans with long memories, or an anorakish taste for detail, will know the answer immediately. Pete Sixsmith offers a guiding hand to those less acquainted with the legion of former Sunderland players …

Not a great couple of days for us Red and Whites. A hangover from the bitter disappointment of Tuesday night was made even worse when the news came through of Titus Bramble’s arrest.

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Niall Quinn, Titus Bramble and presumptions of innocence

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Click here and you will quickly see what you are invited to sign. Most of us pay lip service to notions of justice. In practice, we repeatedly encounter anomalies …

Niall Quinn stands convicted on one count – not knowing the difference between refute and deny – but is absolutely right to put out a dignified club statement* emphasising that Titus Bramble, arrested on suspicion of rape, maintains his innocence.

Niall was also wise enough to the potential charge of hypocrisy to avoid adding that whenever an individual is charged with a crime in the UK, and indeed his own native Irish Republic, there is – notionally at least – a presumption of innocence. It is nevertheless worth pointing it out: Bramble has not even been charged; if and when that occurs, he must be seen as innocent until and unless found guilty.

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Prejudice and all that: coming to Lee Cattermole’s defence

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Image (from Munster v SAFC): L09C


Salut! Sunderland makes no apology for rebuking Lee Cattermole for his failure, for a second time in only three games this season, to stay on the pitch for all of one half. But we like a good argument. As if in quick response to my appeal for help when a forthcoming operation restricts my ability to post, Geoff Bethell pops up from New Zealand with a refreshingly different analysis …


I haven’t lived in Sunderland since 1961. I haven’t been there since 1968. I haven’t lived in the UK since 1970.

But out here in the glorious rugby-playing nation of NZ it’s still the case that to be a whole human being you can no more give up your love of Sunderland AFC than you can your brain.

Since the advent of the internet, keeping in touch has become so much easier. So it was on Sunday morning (we’re 11 hours ahead of UK) that I went on to SportingLife.com as usual for the results.

One-one away to Wigan. I’d hoped for better, feared for worse, but appreciated that 1-1 was acceptable. Was it a point well won or two points thrown away? The match reports and comments were the next things to check up on. It was then I lost it.

“Oh for eff’s sake.”

“What a complete and utter cretin.”

“Why do we persist with this twerp?”

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Soapbox: from the banks of the Plate to Bolton Reserves

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The first sentence of Pete Sixsmith‘s report from last night’s Reserves game may be evidence that he is finally losing it. He either doesn’t really mean it, or is about to undergo a significant life change. All because he joined a few hundred other souls at SAFC Reserves 0 Bolton Wanderers Reserves 0 …

Sometimes there are better things to do than watch midweek football. Last night was one of those nights. I could have stayed in and watched Mr H D “Dickie” Bird and the terpsichorean terror who is Lionel Blair, struggle to keep up with the tasks they were set.

Or, I could have gone into licensed premises, enjoyed a pint and watched Manchester United Odds and Sods play a Rangers side who adopted the type of tactics that a Division Two side would display on a visit to Old Trafford.

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The Arsenal ‘Who Are You?’: rooting for Blackpool, recalling another Sunderland

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Click here for a top sports editor’s view from the Emirates …

Sunderland v Arsenal: leave aside next week’s Carling Cup game and it’s the start of three really tough tests, and Mackems would settle now for a repeat of last season’s fixture. Perhaps Braga will tire them out tonight. Pat McLaughlin* runs the wildly successful JustArsenal.com fan site (million hits a month) from an armchair somewhere in Yorkshire. He expects the Gunners to thump us – but, then, he thought us dark horses for a sixth-top finish a year ago …

Salut! Sunderland: Solid enough start for the Gunners. What is your expectation for the season?

I have high hopes. I know Arsenal fans like to moan a lot, but I seriously believe the team is a lot stronger than last season, and we weren’t that far away. Squillaci and Koscielny will tighten things up at the back, and if Arsenal can avoid the ridiculous amount of injuries they sustained last year, I see no reason why we can’t finish at the top of the pile this time around.

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Peter O’Toole and a lost Sunderland passion

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Eight years ago, I thought I’d cracked it for my series of Celebrity Supporter interviews for Wear Down South. Missing out on Gina McKee, Dave Stewart and – bizarrely given his initial enthusiasm – Glenn Hugill had been disappointing, but an exclusive interview with Peter O’Toole beckoned …

Peter O’Toole‘s connection with Sunderland AFC was, for a very long time, a mystery to me.

I’d heard the rumours, been told of the chatshow asides and wondered about the truth. Couldn’t recall seeing him in the away end anywhere, and didn’t bump into him on rare forays into executive dining areas.

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The Birflatt Boy: he’s no Cool Catt this one

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Didn’t (doesn’t) the Sunday Sun have a column by one Mr Angry? Well, it seemed time Salut! Sunderland had one, too. Ours will take a different name – see above – but the spluttering anger will be undiluted. Where better to start than with our recalcitrant card-loving midfielder? The stage belongs to Birflatt Boy ….

Cattermole!, Cattermole! Cattermole! Why do you keep kicking people up in the air, Cattermole?

Depending on your point of view, this lad’s either a little bit over enthusiastic, or he’s a complete nutter.

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Soapbox: can we send Cattermole back to Wigan?

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“It’s becoming ridiculous.” When a manager says that about his captain, and he’s not defending him but describing his immaturity and indiscipline, you know things are serious. Pete Sixsmith chose the headline; it’s unforgiving but reflects the complete exasperation of supporters Lee Cattermole has again let down …

We are sitting tenth in the league, a position that would probably keep us happy if it were May. However, after four games, three of which were against sides we had hoped to beat, a return of five points is a little disappointing.

Of course, had we managed to keep 11 players on the field for 50 per cent of those games, there is every possibility that we would have had nine points and would have been sitting pretty in third place with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United to come.

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