Sunderland A.F.C. - SAFC Blog

Nothing changes: Watford, Norwich, Bournemouth plus guess who – already relegation favourites

June 10, 2015June 10, 2015 by Colin Randall

Jake: 'Emirates heroics leave bookies unmoved' — Jake: ‘Emirates heroics leave bookies unmoved’

Andrew Pink, from the Square in the Air sports marketing firm, was trying to make me feel better.

He’d sent something about Betway cutting the odds on West Ham finishing in the top six from 18/1 to 14/1 after the appointment of Slaven Bilic as team boss. So where, I wondered, did Dick Advocaat’s return leave us? I told him I’d almost bet on them having us down for the drop anyway, on the basis that betting analysts would reckon we cannot keep getting away with it.

“It’s not all bad news,” came Andrew’s response once he’d lowered his eyes to the prognosis for that far down the table. “Sunderland are 4th favourites to go down….”

Stoke City Who are You?: Denis Smith ‘proud to have managed SAFC’

April 23, 2015April 23, 2015 by Colin Randall

Denis Smith: two Sunderland promotions cannot be bad

Salut! Sunderland likes occasionally to pull an unexpected gem from the ‘Who are You?’ hat. The ‘ordinary’ fans are just as good, often better, but it’s heartening from time to time to have celeb supporters, former players, noted authors, church leaders, broadcasters and, of course, former managers. Denis Smith never played for Sunderland but he can look back with pride on his achievements as our manager. He’s also Stoke City through and through; we must thank John Ruggiero, secretary of SCOBA, the Stoke City former players’ association (find it at Twitter: https://twitter.com/SCOBA1863), for persuading him to enter so gamely into the spirit of the series. Let’s hope his prediction of points plural for SAFC comes true. Pete Sixsmith joined M Salut in conjuring the questions …

RIP George Pitcher, ‘red sheep of the family’

December 21, 2014 by Colin Randall

It seems particularly pertinent to choose today to post a brief tribute to a Sunderland supporter who was born in Newcastle. Rest in peace, George …

In our age of electronic communication, it is quite possible to know other people a little, or even a lot, without ever having met or spoken to them.

So it is with the Blackcats e-mail list, a disparate group of Sunderland fans scattered to assorted corners of the world. When names pop up, I can identify a few fellow supporters I have known for years, a few I am on nodding terms with and many more I have never met.

The Way It Is

February 2, 2015November 11, 2014 by Colin Randall

Jake introduces the new feature allowing you to have your say on topic or off — Jake introduces the made-for-purpose feature allowing you to have your say on topic or off

Here is the feature we introduced with the intention of getting readers talking.

Salut! Sunderland: the way it is is essentially your forum, a place to let off steam, make a point or raise an issue none of the site’s contributors has got round to writing about. It removes the need to wait for Sixer, Monsieur Salut, John Mac, Ken Gambles, Malcolm Dawson, Jeremy Robson or any of the the others to catch up on the news. We haven’t the resources to be any quicker.

Sixer’s Carlisle Soapbox: the splendour of England, the torpor of friendly football

July 23, 2014July 23, 2014 by Colin Randall

Pete Sixsmith ought to have been a professional football writer, as his priceless accounts at Salut! Sunderland demonstrate season after season. He could have had travel writing as a sideline, as this description of a grand day out on the trains of northern England also shows. Mind, he isn’t a bad teacher by all accounts so society probably feels it is getting the best of all worlds from the sum of his contributions. Back to that day out: there’s always something waiting to spoil life’s pleasures and Pete ran into it at Brunton Park (there’s a clip of the goals at Darlington to make up for it) …

Fixtures: WBA away to start, Chelsea away if points needed on last day

June 18, 2014 by Colin Randall

Jake: 'this is the place where you find true support, unconditional commitment' — Jake: ‘this is the place where you find true support, unconditional commitment’

Here we go. This is the provisional list of Sunderland fixtures for the 2014-2015 season, with the usual health warning about the havoc TV moguls and chief constables can and will play with dates and times.

We start with the pre-season friendlies so far arranged: Darlington 1883 on Sat July 19, Carlisle United on Tues July 22 and Hartlepool United on Wed July 23. They’re all away but do not, at first sight, constitute an overseas jolly of the sort to appeal to Messrs Sixsmith and Horan.

Foul football and early baths

June 6, 2014June 5, 2014 by Colin Randall

The average age of our readers has probably been reduced to below 100, thanks to Hayley and Keir, and our brilliantly successful season will no doubt have brought in new readers. Or maybe not, I don’t actually have a clue except for M Salut’s recent post that the site’s had 2.4 million visitors since it opened in 2007. Whatever, it’s likely that some of those 2.4 million hits will be from the parents of football-mad kids who, struck down by World cup fever, will shortly be negotiating bedtimes and giving plaintive cries of “just a bit longer…”

The Salut! Sunderland school’s not quite out for summer

June 3, 2014June 2, 2014 by Colin Randall

Jake's images brighten these pages — Jake’s images brighten these pages

Salut! Sunderland depends on its contributors and, of course, its readers.

The latter come in whatever numbers day after day. What they find is determined by what the former have been able to submit.

The WAY awards: tension mounts as Hull, Norwich and Manchester United lead the pack

May 23, 2014May 23, 2014 by Colin Randall

From our main sponsor soccerpro.com's range. 'If only I could have that,' sighs the Man Utd candidate — From our main sponsor soccerpro.com’s range. ‘If only I could have that,’ sighs the Man Utd candidate

Few outside Hull – apart, maybe, from Brian Kerrigan, a former colleague of mine in Abu Dhabi who is from Cape Breton and knows of Humberside only because it was the birthplace of his favourite guitarist (Mick Ronson, if memory serves) – expected them to beat Arsenal in the FA Cup final. They got close, but not close enough.

But what about the real honours of the 2013-2014 season, the WAYS, or Salut! Sunderland Who are You? awards for 2013-14?

Sunderland vs WBA: the penultimate Guess the Score, with thanks to Guingamp

May 5, 2014May 5, 2014 by Colin Randall

Nolwenn Leroy is not only an uncommonly canny lass but a great Breton (not the same, except literally, as Great Briton) singer. On Saturday night, she sang her heart out for the Lads with this superb rendition of Brittany’s anthem, which the Welsh and Cornish-speaking Cornish may well recognise, both sets of Lads being Breton, Rennes and Guingamp, in the French cup final at the Stade de France. Guingamp (Nolwenn’s own preference, believe) won 2-0 against more fancied opponents. I hope and believe we can match that result at home to West Brom and – outrageous point-scoring/deducting challenges from Norwich, Fulham and Cardiff notwithstanding – dodge the arrows for one more season.