Sunderland A.F.C.

French Fancies: Marseille fans get Steven Fletcher’s goat (and not just his)

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Probably for one week only, French Fancies returns to record the latest edition of the Mediterranean exploits of one Steven Fletcher, on loan from SAFC to Marseille …

There are worse things footballers can be called than goats, as Olympique de Marseille were during Saturday’s 0-0 draw on Saturday, a 14th home game in Ligue 1 without a win.

If the people calling you goats also happen to accompany the jibe with the Benny Hill theme tune played from the stands, it seems even less wounding as an insult.

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Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 0-2 Leicester City. Couldn’t raise our game

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Jake: 'were Borini and Rodwell wearing each other's boots?'
Jake: ‘were Borini and Rodwell wearing each other’s boots?’


Pete Sixsmith, back from groundhopping in North Wales, saw little in it a half time. But Sunderland pretty much collapsed in the second half, going behind and then trying to go further behind until Vardy’s second made a Leicester title more likely, which we applaud, and a Sunderland relegation a near-certainty unless we can play a lot better next Saturday and Rodwell and Borini don’t miss the sort of chances they had today . These are Sixer’s intiial thoughts, in seven words …

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Wrinkly Pete: seven games to go, seven reasons to be cheerful

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Roll up, roll up and see what one satisfied customer, with a little help from the much-missed Ian Dury, has to say. Peter Lynn’s trip home is a long one, even from home games, but he travelled back to his Midlands nest in good cheerful spirits after the West Brom game. Like Pete Sixsmith on a shorter hop to Shildon, he glanced at the faces of fans on the returning WBA coaches and looked in vain for signs of happiness at what they’d just seen served up by Pulis’s men. Here’s Wrinkly Pete’s list of a Sunderland supporter’s reasons to be cheerful (it started as six, but he’s added an even more upbeat seventh) …

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If this doesn’t inspire the Lads against West Bromwich, nothing will …

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Jake: 'you know what's required, Lads'
Jake: ‘you know what’s required, Lads’

Sunderland cannot save themselves with one game, as we did when West Bromwich Albion visited the Stadium of Light on May 7 2014. But that was the last-but-one mat ch of the season. We’d done the hard work under Gus Poyet, beating Man United and Chelsea at their own places and walloping Cardiff at home. We sent Norwich down by beating Albion 2-0.

This, ahead of another home game to WBA that is nevertheless of immense importance and could well influence our fate, is how Pete Sixsmith recorded that fabulous night. His Soapboxes are always great reads; they are not always happy ones. This, for those who do not stray here often enough to know, is how Sixer does happiness. Let it inspire Vito, DeAndre, PvA, Younes, JoS, Lamine, Jan, Wahbi, Jeremain,Jack, Seb, Fabio, Dame, Jermain – already too many, so whoever turns out – to do what is necessary on Saturday. Now, over to Pete, version 2014 …

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How the bottom of the Premier looks, and how it should look

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Jake: the key to our survival, but can he please complete the big games?
Jake: the key to our survival, but can he please complete the big games?


Sunderland’s predicament is the stuff of shredded nerves. Sam Allardyce talks of needing perhaps four wins and a draw from eight games and many of us doubt we are capable of producing anything like such a haul.

This, as we approach yet another weekend without “our” football, is how the bottom half + one of the Premier League looks:

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Why one lifelong SAFC supporter stays away. Not the reason you’d expect

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Ian Todd (source: www.weardownsouth.com)
Ian Todd (source: www.weardownsouth.com)

Ian Todd, a lifelong Sunderland supporter who moved away for university and has spent his adult life in London, has graced these pages intermittently throughout Salut! Sunderland’s nine-year life. He is the man without whom the London and SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association wouldn’t have been created, or at least not as early (1967) or successfully as it was. It was, until this season, unthinkable that he’d be absent from more than a handful of games. In fact, while he continues to attend home games and has already renewed his season ticket, his presence on Sunderland’s travels has become a rarity.

Here is how he explains his decision in the new edition of Wear Down South, the branch newsletter, with a footnote* from the Blackcats e-mail loop on why he gave the derby a miss. Taken together, it’s a mix of the reason you perhaps wouldn’t expect, and one you would …

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Adam Johnson: a wretched matter for the victim, SAFC’s dignified response

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sol gates

Adam Johnson, as most readers will know, faces a probable jail sentence measured in years not months after being convicted of one of the outstanding charges against him at Bradford Crown Court concerning sexual activity with a girl then aged 15.

The judge talked of having formed a preliminary view that he should receive five years’ imprisonment based on a range of four to 10.

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Hutch’s Patch: Yedlin stars against Crystal Palace as draw feels like defeat

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Jake: 'he can write more than one word a sentence!'
Jake: ‘look closely and you’ll see he can write more than one word a sentence!’

When does a draw feel like a defeat? Tonight, says Rob Hutchison</em>. ‘Yet we’re out of the bottom three for now. Feels like water slowly draining out of the bathtub, or death by a thousand cuts.’ Compare and contrast: Rob and Monsieur Salut, in his piece that will appear later at ESPN [now viewable at http://www.espnfc.com/club/sunderland/366/blog/post/2819708/deandre-yedlin-gives-finest-sunderland-display-vs-palace], broadly agreed on the man-by-man ratings, including a low-marking MOTM award for Yedlin …

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Sixer’s Sevens: Liverpool 2-2 Sunderland. Defoe’s quality makes its point

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Jake: catch Sixer's instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season
Jake: catch Sixer’s instant seven-word verdicts throughout the season at https://safc.blog/category/sixers-sevens/sixers-sevens-2015-2016/

Monsieur Salut writes: from an easily conceded defeat to a heartening recovery for a draw, Sunderland tested our nerves today but the point gives us a glimmer of hope for the rest of the season. We gave Liverpool masses of possession and eventually paid the price, defensive lapses – with Billy Jones at fault both times – handing Liverpool a 2-0 lead. But as thousands of home fans made their commendable stand against their rip-off owners’ ticket pricing plans, the comeback began. Mignolet allowed Adam Johnson’s free kick to beat him at the post and Jermain Defoe then showed again what a classy striker he is, finishing a terrific little move involving PVA and the impressive Khazri. Below you see Pete Sixsmith’s customary seven-word verdict (1) and a companion summing-up from John McCormick (2) …

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