Salut! Sunderland is always open to suggestions for posts from outside interests. Please welcome Cartridge People at whose invitation Pete Sixsmith reports on a match of his choice from the opening phase of Euro 2016. Watching Italy’s 2-0 victory over Belgium stirred memories from the distant past …
Salut! Sunderland seeks out all manner of people for the ‘Who are You?’ series. It’s great to attract household names but some of the best interviews have been with ordinary fans, home-and-away regulars or armchair supporters. Richard Littlejohn* fits into the first category, familiar to most people from his TV series and strident Daily Mail columns. Monsieur Salut knew him when he was just one of the mob of hacks covering industrial relations. He’s a good lad, whatever you think of his views, he’s a real football supporter and he came third in our HAWAY awards. Here is the interview we ran before the 1-0 home defeat to Spurs in September …
Pete Sixsmith casts an expert eye over the SAFC retained list … he offers broad approval for the decisions made and hopes for a few more exits, as well as signings, before long ..
Many years ago, when Monsieur Salut and I were nowt but lads, the announcement of the retained list was an exciting event.
Who would be staying? Who would be leaving? What might our team look like for next season? Who had Alan Brown/Ian McColl/Alan Brown (again)/Bob Stokoe decided would be the men to take us forward in the next nine months?
A little while ago, back in February as it happens, we published the view of an outsider, Mark Smith, a freelance sports writer based in Prague, that Roy Hodgson should take Jermain Defoe to the Euros. The case got stronger, of course, but the deafness afflicting Hodgson got worse, too. It’s heartening when neutrals see things the way we do, too, but in a partisan way. Here, another writer, Darren Moore, a freelancer based closer to home (Scotland) laments Defoe’s utterly predictable exclusion from the squad and suggests England may suffer as a result …
Michael Robinson offers an interesting talking point even if its premise – Sunderland becoming more attractive to star players and their WAGS by relocating all activities except matchday to the leafy, prosperous Home Countries – seems like something a newspaper might have published on April 1. The headline reflects Monsieur Salut’s instinctive response. Wear Down South is a great name for the newsletter of the London and SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association, but SAFC Down South? Please Mr Robinson!
NB no comments allowed for this posting …..
Who fancies France this summer? By that, I don’t mean who reckons the host country will win the tournament, which is possible if unlikely, but whether you’d like to be there yourself, which this competition also makes possible.
If a Salut! Sunderland reader were to win this competition, and embark (with friend or relative) on a 12-day trip across the Channel to see some of the action, Monsieur Salut would be delighted to meet up and buy them a drink should paths meet.
It seems appropriate to make this the briefest of introductions and let Pete Sixsmith speak for himself and for a generation of football supporters treated shamefully by authority …
Every honest football fan knows he or she has occasionally howled at referees and linesmen only for the contentious decision to be proved to be flawless. Every honest footballer knows his entirely subjective view of an incident may not be accurate. And we all know footballers make many more costly mistakes than officials.
Yet weekend after weekend, there is the closest scrutiny of judgements seen as plain wrong, debatable or merely unpopular with one set of fans or the other.
As the season reaches the time when vital points are at stake, at both ends of all divisions and in decisive cup ties, controversy inevitably become more intense.
Rob Hutchison is the not the only supporter who makes a few words say a lot. This week, he invited his daughter and son, Olivia and Louis, to do the honours with the one-word verdicts. His view? ‘Massive win but is it too little too late?’ …
The nerves are beginning to show. Monsieur Salut accepts at ESPN that it’s not Big Sam’s mustn’t-lose, but a clear must-win match. History offers little solace. The task falls to Sunderland AFC, in front of their 15th sell-out away crowd in a wretched season, to raise their games and flatten the Norfolk Dumplings, so known because the unflattened version is a traditional local delicacy (Delia probably does them quite well).
Pete Sixsmith anticipates Saturday’s trip and remembers others from the past, including the 2-2 draw also attended by M Salut and also occurring towards the end of a (vain) fight against relegation …