Sunderland A.F.C

France vs Portugal ‘Who are You?’: a SAFC supporter cries forcaportugal

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SAM
Our Sam on the right


Tomorrow: another SAFC season ticket holder – Véronique, a solidly French adopted Mackem – exudes passion for La Belle France …

Monsieur Salut writes: here’s a special treat from the tireless souls at Salut! Sunderland. Many readers enjoy the Who are You? series. Why not one for the Euro 2016 final?

Help was sought from miles around. Loads of friends of this site tried to dig up suitable candidates, a supporter of France and a supporter of Portugal.

And we ended up – I am delighted to say – with two Sunderland fans. Once Ronaldo and Griezmann had declined our offer (“reward in heaven guv, honest”), it could not have worked out better. Shout-outs are due to Kay and Steve, also Sunderland supporters, for putting me on the track of Sam Verissimo, home-and-away regular but also half-Portuguese.

So let’s start with Portugal, whose plodding route to the final has underwhelmed most neutrals. Sam describes himself at Twitter as ‘a born entertainer who apparently looks like Michael Mcintyre’ and has a SoL season ticket despite living in London. He fears the worst for his country on Sunday …

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Italy’s star, SAFC’s underachiever. Where did it go wrong with Giaccherini?

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How Jake saw Emanuele Giachherini
How Jake saw Emanuele Giaccherini

Sorry for the patchy appearance of new material here, John McCormick’s splendid efforts excepted. In the tetchy climate, I daren’t say what may, for most of the last week, have distracted some of us. Emanuele Giaccherini couldn’t always get a full game for Sunderland but stars for Italy at Euro 2016. Is it our fault or his? What on earth happens to so many players of quality once they pull on our shirt, Defoe being a class exception? Monsieur Salut tracks the Giaccherini days at Sunderland as viewed on these pages …

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Bill Richardson RIP: long lost to Wearside, never to SAFC

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Jake: ''rest easy, Bill'
Jake: ”rest easy, Bill’

Salut! Sunderland wishes to record the sad loss of Bill Richardson, a long-time Wearside exile who remained a passionate supporter of the club he left behind in a country he never revisited. He retired only last year but died yesterday (Tuesday June 21), apparently after suffering a stroke …

In our Mackem Diaspora series, Bill described himself in this way:

Born in Seaham ’47. Left for Natal, South Africa ’78. Moved up to the Transvaal in ’81 (Mpumalanga now) on the day Reagan was shot. Spent time in Swaziland, Cape Town (nuclear power station) so know what the problem is at Fukushima. Back in the old Transvaal now. Coal fired station. Never been back to Blighty …

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Does Lawrie McMenemy really think blaming Roker Park cockroaches can sway us?

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Our Lawrie
Our Lawrie: some used copies for under a tenner at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lawrie-McMenemy-Lifetimes-Obsession-Autobiography/dp/1910335282?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&tag=salusund-21

Our cherished former manager Lawrie McMenemy may have apologised before for all I know for his part in dumping Sunderland AFC into the Third Division. He’s at it again (or should that be for the first time?). Who can remember those relegation playoffs against Gillingham without wincing, whether they were present or following from afar? And who can forget the nasty taste left in the mouth by McMenenemy’s rotten reign? …

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Brexit or Bremain? Midsummer follies with Sunderland’s European Union

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Jake's generic Salut gif
Acknowledgement:
All graphics courtesy of Jake

Malcolm Dawson writes……the germ of an idea came to me as I pondered my stance on the upcoming referendum. I wanted to form an objective view as to whether or not it was better to remain within the EU or if in fact leaving was the better option. But all I was getting from both sides was unconvincing rhetoric and increasingly outlandish claims, designed to appeal to people’s prejudices on the one hand or to provoke a sense of fear and outrage on the other. The logical, if possibly subjective arguments I wanted to hear and which would allow me to make an informed decision, weren’t forthcoming. How I thought am I to decide?

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Your verdicts: Sunderland’s kit and are Burnley, Hull, Watford for drop?

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Jake: 'sometimes you just have to meddle in other people's business'
Jake: ‘sometimes you just have to meddle in what we hope will be other people’s business’

This post has no purpose beyond letting everyone know they can not only have a punt on the outcome of matches at Euro 2016 by checking out Online Soccer Betting but still vote in our two current polls.

One, which has already attracted a lot of interest, invites your views on who will go down at the end of next season. There are plenty of contenders and Sunderland have a few unwelcome votes (all probably from opposing supporters), but our 5.8 per cent is manageable.

[polldaddy poll=9439592]

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Fixture list: Newcastle gone, our nearest to a derby, Middlesbrough, comes early

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Jake: 'Ha'way Lads. Get stuck in for a brighter start'
Jake: ‘Ha’way Lads. Get stuck in for a brighter start’

Pete Sixsmith, quick off the mark, has already booked one must-do trip of recent seasons – if I say the last but one was a match of eight goals and we scored none of them, you’ll get the drift – and is raring to go. Here he casts an eye over the fixtures for 2016-17 (listed in full, though subject to changes, at https://safc.blog/2016/06/talk-about-tough-manchester-city-away-to-start-chelsea-away-to-finish/. Not a bad opening sequence, he reckons, though we’ve got to break with another recent tradition and get early points on the board …

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Idle speculation to get me through the quiet days

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Malcolm Dawson back in the day with SuperKev.
Malcolm Dawson back in the day with SuperKev.

Malcolm Dawson, deputy editor, writes: this hiatus which falls between the end of season and the opening of the transfer window sees me scouring the media for scraps of gossip that may or may not indicate which way the club is going. Most of it will turn out to be idle speculation and bear little resemblance to what actually transpires between the 1st of July and the end of August.

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