The announcement everyone expected came today, as Gary Bennett had said it would. Dick Advocaat has resigned – see the …
Rob Hutchison has been quiet during the recent Sunderland slump. But he is back after the 2-2 home draw with West Ham with his punchy one-word verdicts on the Lads in red and white (and on the quite appalling ref Neil Swarbrick). Sorry Hammers – you’ll have to do the one-worders for your players …
M Salut writes: at 2-0, with management of the Sunderland AFC in wretched disarray, how many of us were really confident it would stay that way? Yet it should have got better, putting the game beyond West Ham’s reach, if only Borini had buried his great chance. Instead, we went in at the interval at 2-1 after Moses had all the time in the world to set up his cross and Borini could do nothing to stop Carl Jenkinson scoring. Pete Sixsmith worried at half time that the miss would prove costly and he was right, despite going home chuffed with the “best performance of the season”.
With spectacular inconsistency, Neil Swarbrick then sent off Lens, scorer of our sublime second, for a second yellow while looking on benignly when Mark Noble’s crude block on Borini should have made it 10-a-side. Quite scandalous refereeing. With Pantilimon’s weak parry allowing the Hammers to equalise, we had to settle for a point and thank Man City for walloping the Mags to lift us off bottom . …
Malcolm Dawson writes….Pete Sixsmith and I had different opinions on the trip to the game yesterday. He thought that this …
Malcolm Dawson writes….Jesse Burch went to see Sunderland play Pachuca. Read his excellent report here. Being in the area and …
Malcolm Dawson writes…..In his first post match missive to M Salut and the world in general since agreeing to his …
Malcolm Dawson writes….Summer Madness is the retrospective spot where we republish articles from days gone by. Well it helps to fill in time whilst we wait for the start of the new season. Pete Sixsmith and I are off to Tow Law this afternoon where the Development squad take on the Lawyers in a pre-season friendly. Chris Waddle of course has played for both clubs but I doubt he’ll be there shouting “pelanty” every time a player goes down in or near the box! A match report will follow.
Meanwhile we go back half a decade to 2010 when M Salut asked the question “What gives you the right to support a team.” I have included the comments which were made at the time. Please feel free to add to those.
Like the look of Chelsea? Gasp in admiration at Man United’s trophy cupboard? Fine, then let’s become a supporter. We can always find out where the place is later.
What are the tests a supporter should pass to qualify as a real fan of the team he or she follows, as opposed to a bandwagon jumper?
I have my own set of rules.
Stephanie Roche must have been chuckling into her Guinness – sorry, sports energy drink – as she favourited my tweet about the article my daughter Nathalie Randall wrote on her team, Old Actonians, gaining promotion to the Women’s Premier League. [Ha’way, Lass, give us a RT now and then, too – Ed].
If her spell with Houston led to nothing, I suggested, maybe Stephanie – famous for the wonder goal that won her second place to James Rodriguez in last year’s Fifa Puskas award – should consider joining Nathalie’s club.
Since her move to Sunderland Ladies was announced next day, she already knew she was heading to the women’s part of the team supported by Nathalie’s dad.
Salut! Sunderland is thrilled to join the chorus of praise for Jimmy Montgomery, who has been awarded the BEM (British Empire Medal) for – and this is an understatement – services to football over the past half-century.
The official club site talks of Monty as a “Sunderland AFC legend and club ambassador” and quotes him as saying: “I am absolutely delighted and it’s a great honour to receive this award. I’ve been involved with football for a number of years, in many different and enjoyable roles. I have so many great memories that last a lifetime and to share this one with my family is something that I will savour [SAFC.com wrote ‘saviour’ which seems a Freudian slip – Ed].”
SAFC’s chief executive officer Margaret Byrne – once, I believe, a member of the SAFC Supporters’ Association London and SE branch – described Jimmy as a “true gentleman … held in such high esteem by everyone in the city”, a view definitely held by Salut! Sunderland codgers who have come across him.
And let us mark the occasion by republishing a piece – without amending dates etc – that appeared during our 2013 series on the 40th anniversary of the 1973 FA Cup final that remains, in the broader public vision, Monty’s finest achievement in a career that took him beyond his Wearside home ground to Birmingham City, Vancouver Royals, Southampton and Nottingham Forest.
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Do we like it or do we not?
As night follows day, the release of the new home kit for Sunderland AFC draws an exchange of early fire.