Tottenham v Sunderland: ordeals at the Lane, fun in the snow


At roughly this time last year, Salut! Sunderland pulled together some reminiscences of visits to White Hart Lane in previous seasons. The cold snap that saw snowfall in parts of Britain today – including a few flakes in London – brought back memories of a 3-3 draw in the bleak midwinter, a good enough excuse for looking at those past encounters again …

See also: The Spurs “Who are You?”: We’ll hammer you 4-1.

Not everyone knows this, and Spurs fans would just laugh anyway. But Sunderland have won the top flight title three times as often as Tottenham. And while the down side for us is that three of our six championships came in the century before last, and the most recent was 1936, they had to wait until 1951 for the first of only two.

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Peter O’Toole, a hell-raising dad and a lost Sunderland passion

Readers who find this a familiar tale are asked to bear with me. I need to check whether the link to the redesigned site is working in all the ways it should; posting something – anything – is one way of doing that. New readers may find what follows interesting …

A few 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.

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New look for Sunderland, new look for Salut!


Salut! Sunderland has news of its own to announce …

It seems somehow fitting that as the appointment of Martin O’Neill ushers in what we hope will be a successful new era for Sunderland AFC, Salut! Sunderland should also present its new face to the world. It should, with luck, make its blushing debut tomorrow (Tuesday Dec 6).

As a reader of newspapers since childhood, and as someone who has written for them for far too long (without ever once thinking of hacking anyone’s phone or bribing a cop), I have lost count of the times I have frowned or worse at redesigns.

Usually, as in the case of The Guardian, I end up approving; sometimes, with apologies to The Times, I do not. Brought up on the old Daily Herald, I would have been appalled had it gone tabloid. I was appalled enough that it developed into the old and later new Sun..

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Salut! Sunderland’s makeover: a plea for patience

M Salut thanks the readers of this site for their angry, acerbic, amusing and appreciative comments received in recent days, weeks and months. There may be important SAFC news in the day or days to come and there may not; either way, that will inspire more comment.

But I do need a degree of patience and understanding from you all during the same period.

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Calling West Brom and Bolton fans: your wit and wisdom needed

Albion 5Image: Tony Hisgett


An appeal to WBA and Bolton supporters with something to say to Salut! Sunderland

Five games into the season, six if you include Brighton in the Carling, we’ve done OK so far with “Who are You?” interviews. But time has been a problem and, believe me, time is needed in order to find suitable – by which you can sometimes read “any” – candidates.

Last season, we did quite well with West Bromwich Albion and Bolton Wanderers, two of the teams we face in the coming few games. Both clubs can, for whatever reason, be tricky in terms of getting someone to sign up to the Q&A.

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Mugs, pens … and now T-shirts in Salut!’s bid for solvency



VISIT THE SALUT! SUNDERLAND SHOP BY CLICKING HERE

Salut! Sunderland is away for a long weekend. What you see here and in the next image are the first T-shirts we have for sale at the site shop.

As an introductory offer, they are available at £16 each. Feedback from readers who have already received their orders of mugs or pens Crackerjacks pencils and cabbages may have to wait – would be welcome. Click here for the shop …

There is no entrance charge at Salut! Sunderland. If only some way could have devised for automatically charging £1 a time whenever a Mag came here to gloat the other weekend, there’d be no need to worry about money again for a while: we’d have banked £15,000 or more.

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Sunderland supporters only: make mugs of us

The Classic Salut! Sunderland Mug I

At long last, the Salut! Sunderland Shop is open at the page you find by clicking here for UK orders or here for overseas orders.

Just about open, I should have said. It may be the only shop in the world with only two products, but it has to start somewhere.

It has been a slow and laborious process but from today, we are offering – as a trial intended to lead to the addition of further products – what we will call the Classic Salut! Sunderland Mugs I and II, chunky red and white tea or coffee mugs using a design conjured up by our old friend, the Charlton-supporting graphics wizard Addick-tedKevin under the guidance of M Salut. The introductory price is £11, and there are discounts for buying two or four.

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Thanks a million

Addick-tedKevin


The quickest of mentions: thanks to the Salut! Sunderland readers who have sent the site surging past the million mark for “hits”.

I said the milestone was looming, but then forgot to keep track.

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