Stephen Goldsmith examines the squad at Martin O’Niell’s disposal and assesses tactics, strengths and weaknesses …
Goldy’s Logic: how Cattermole, Colback, Gardner can prove themselves indispensable for Sunderland
Stephen Goldsmith
Salut!’s Predictions League: Chelsea beating Newcastle, QPR’s draw at Norwich, force movement
Stephen Goldsmith made a rod for his own back when he devised a Predictions League. Bright idea but these things have a habit of needing to be maintained. He’ll learn. In the meantime, here’s how last weekend’s three selected games affected the table …
Goldy’s Logic: how Olympics athletes had it cushy compared with unloved footballers
Everyone has been saying how nice it was to see happy, smiling, approachable Olympics competitors instead of those surly, monosyllabic footballers. Without quite suggesting sainthoods for best fan-avoidance technique – hoods, Ipods, earphones, shades, lowered heads – Stephen Goldsmith offers some balancing thoughts …
Crystal balls: the Salut! Sunderland predictions league
Not content with his thought provoking, even provocative postings on Salut! Sunderland, Stephen Goldsmith has come up with an idea to test the predictive powers of the regular contributors to the site. He explains …
Goldy’s logic: Olympics euphoria – football’s pariahs
With a record haul of gold medals apart from when rope climbing, tug of war and ballroom dancing were de rigueur in the Olympic Games, Stephen Goldsmith wonders why the public and press alike love to love our cyclists, rowers, dressage riders and triathletes while despising those involved in ‘the beautiful game’ …
Goldy’s Logic: Wolves and the £14m Fletcher buy – greed or hard bargaining?
NB. Stop Press: Have we, haven’t we? A tweet which may or may not have been a spoof suggested he was ours, or nearly, Wolves having accepted a ludicrously high bid of £14m for Steven Fletcher – good player, no fault of his that football is bonkers but that would make him worth almost as much as PSG paid for Ibrahimovic. It may be complete nonsense, of course. Much dust has still to settle …
Every club will get away with it as long as they can. Sunderland were happy enough to take megabucks for Jordan Henderson, good player and excellent longer-term prospect that he is. Spurs are past masters of the art of extracting ridiculous money for players they sense the would-be buyer wants more than they need to sell. Even so, the Steven Fletcher saga is extraordinary. Wolves have held out for a world-beater fee, with the risk of getting nothing, for a useful player most would value at £5-7m. Before the questionable rumours suggesting we had got what we wanted and so had they, Stephen Goldsmith, a known admirer, had chatted about it to Thomas from the Wolves Blog …
Goldy’s Logic: calling Wolves’ bluff on Fletcher, laughing at Steve Bruce
A last word, from Stephen Goldsmith, on Tigers ungaggable new boss and a suggestion that calling Wolverhampton Wanderers’ bluff may …
Goldy’s Logic: young, gifted and England’s future
Stephen Goldsmith refuses to be unduly gloomy about the state of the England national side but believes a more modern approach to coaching and training would raise standards of play at all ages …
Steve Bruce, Spurs and Hull City. And the challenge of supporting England
You can only guess at Steve Bruce’s thoughts as a string of modest Premier League posts sailed into view only to vanish beyond the horizon of his employability. Having downsized his ambitions and taken the Hull City job, what did he then think when the higher profile Spurs managership became available? You can also wonder at the thoughts of earnest BBC bigwigs at a loss for something dramatic to pull on the eve of Euro 2012. Two Salut! Sunderland writers placed themselves in the relevant minds …
What now for Redknapp and Spurs? Have England, Chelsea, Liverpool missed out?
Image: Simon KendrickBombshell or predictable? And now that ‘Arry’s gone, is White Hart Lane on the imminent travel itinerary of Moyes or Hiddink? In the first of two looks by Salut! Sunderland at the managerial merry-go-round, Stephen Goldsmith poses these questions and offers his own answers …