Salut! Sunderland is delighted to extend a warm welcome to Paddy McNair and Donald Love, our latest new recruits, whose much-touted transfers were finally announced by SAFC today.
None of the usual “undisclosed fee” nonsense; the club itself is happy to state the price – £5.5m to Manchester United for the pair, and you can bet your bottom dollar, pound or euro that the cost of the more experienced McNair took up the lion’s share of that total.
Monsieur Salut invites all readers who are not members of the Salut! Sunderland Facebook group or followers on Twitter to put matters right …
When I checked a few minutes ago, the Facebook group had 658 members and the Salut! Sunderland account at Twitter had 1,968 followers. And of course there are those three million-plus visits we’ve received here since launching, very quietly, in 2007.
Not bad for what one Newcastle fan described here the other day as an “obscure Mackem site”.
Thank heavens for Pete Sixsmith‘s willingness to keep tabs on Sunderland from Busty Bank in Shildon – or, as in …
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We may be humouring ourselves in describing the post-match missives of Sunderland’s successive managers as being all their own work. It is much more likely that the press office team works on the seeds planted by the incumbent in any immediate press conference or TV interview.
But the views expressed remain, essentially, those of the manager concerned – unless you hear of a position suddenly becoming available in the press office.
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Apologies for typos that appeared in an earlier version: an unedited draft somehow managed to replace the finished article and this remained in place, with spelling mistakes, until spotted …
No one knows, or no one is saying, when the FA’s three wise men will put us out of our misery, and end the damaging disruption to Sunderland’s pre-season preparations, and announce their decision on England’s new manager.
Perhaps we have no real right to place our own concerns above those of England, much as some of have felt detached from the national team for years.
So within a day of an unnamed Sunderland AFC source assuring The Northern Echo and presumably others that Sam Allardyce’s abrupt departure from the Austrian trainingcamp had nothing to do with the England job, he pops up at the Cheshire home of David Gill, FA vice-chairman and one of the three wise men deciding who should follow Roy Hodgson.
Also present, along with what the Daily Mail calls Sam’s “£1,000 Louis Vuitton man-bag” containing his presentation, were the other two members of the selection panel. In other words, it was a job interview
Pete Sixsmith had some moving words to say about Davey Dowell, a faithful supporter of Sunderland AFC though Pete would also see him at Durham Country Cricket Club games, who is presumed to have died after disappearing on June 21.
From Tom Lynn, another great SAFC fan, the sort you meet home or away, comes this message:
A celebration of the life of the late, loyal SAFC supporter Davey Dowell, who was even more importantly a wonderful human being, will take place starting at the Black Cats Bar, Stadium of Light at 1pm on Saturday July 16th, 2016.
All those who knew this fanatical and friendly follower of our football club are invited to attend to show their love and respects.
Davey was a real character and will be very much missed by all who knew him. The venue for this celebration could not be more fitting.
It reminds us of what we know about the official club site, good and bad.
Safc.com talks to Jan Kirchhoff, a revelation in almost every game after the unfortunate debut at Spurs and the player most of us want to hear is committed to Sunderland.
It’s all very interesting and site’s privileged access to players always makes the effort to check out the content worthwhile. But we don’t go there in the hope of finding much that is groundbreaking. Bless its cotton socks, safc.com will not or is not allowed to ask the obvious question.
Just as I watch Olivier Giroud and Paul Pogba’s storming finishes (and now the wonderful Dimitri Payet, then Antoine Griezmann) push France into a position of total dominance, making the dream final of Wales v Iceland rather unlikely, a bit of Salut! Sunderland housekeeping needs attending to.
This is not, as I have said before, a political site. We all have views and it may be some views are shared by a majority of the editors, contributors and readers. But, within the kind of reason I hope not to have to explain, we accept the differences that will inevitably arise. It has nowt, essentially, to do with the raison d’être of Salut! Sunderland.
Once again, the fixtures list is not particularly kind to Sunderland. Very well, we all hope we won’t need points …