Pete Sixsmith, whose post-match reports have brightened these pages since time began, shares his thoughts on the match that didn’t really matter -except that we all wanted the Lads to finish on a high, finish 12th and send the fans home not just relieved but happy. Swansea had other ideas and we couldn’t do a thing about it …
We might have guessed. Pete Sixsmith did. His seven-word verdict was sent with the second half little more than 10 minutes old, when Wilfried Bony was given as much time as he needed to place a shot that Vito Mannine made a halfhearted attempt to save. In off the post. One-three and the goal Fabio Borini had just scored to give Sunderland a chance of at least a draw. Luckily, the work had been done in the previous five games. So Altidore came on, hit one chance wide, tumbled over in another good position and looked in vain for a penalty. In the end, it was back to where we were before safety was secured. Oh well, this is Sunderland after all – and I believe someone got the right answer in the Guess the Score …
There seems nothing out of context about adding a Pete Sixsmith assessment of the season early: Sixer will, as happens every season, round up the Wembley and Safe series once it has run its course. But this is the slot where he tells the readership of Britain’s best newspaper (daily or Sunday), The Observer*, what he has made of what he has seen. His impressions changed towards the end of the season. Imagine what this would have looked like had Pete written it a month ago …
Monsieur Salut writes: the series is here. I know I said at Salut! Sunderland, and at ESPN, that it would wait until after the final game. But that was because the two contributions I’d so far received were negative, one more than the other. It did not seem right, after so astonishing an escape won on merit, to precede what is now a relaxed end-of-season party with gloomy recriminations about what went on before. Salut! Sunderland‘s erudite deputy editor, Malcolm Dawson, has changed my mind. His piece is realistic but upbeat, difficult as any Sunderland fan could be the latter about events from August to mid-April apart from the cup runs and derby wins.
There’s plenty of room for criticism and the next instalment will prove it. But for now, the last game still awaited, let us hear how Malcolm approached the season’s denouement …
It feels a bit surreal talking about being safe with a game still to spare, writes Stephen Goldsmith. You always …
So another season just about over and, along with it, our relegation near-miss and this generally good, occasionally great series. Salut! Sunderland salutes the great band of opposing supporters who have given their time to answering our questions. The awards are coming soon; the judges have had a shortlist selected by Monsieur Salut since before the Man U game. But they are not bound by it and may well choose one of the last three ‘Who are You?’s, which have been uniformly excellent, among their winners. And now let’s welcome back Jim White*, who sits on the board of the Swans Trust (Twitter address: @swansinfo) and knows his stuff inside out …
And thanks heavens for that. I now have a lot of serious saving to do to fund the lorryloads of mugs owed to recent winners of Guess the Score.
I said there’d be a prize for each competition until our fate was determined and it seems churlish to revert to a for-fun-only basis for the last game, especially since it promises to be a great party.
The fabulous Sunderland support – how they’ve managed consistently to back the team with such fervour and loyalty this season is a new Wonder of the World – was given just reward with the victory over West Brom and the Premier safety it ensured. Pete Sixsmith was up in the East Stand as usual to marvel at the Great Escape, savour a man-of-the-match showing from Lee Cattermole and celebrate two goals of exquisite class. For days or nights like these, we support Sunderland AFC …
Salut! Sunderland was going to run a series called Wembley and Bust. That was then. This is now. It will instead be Wembley and Safe, reviews of one of the most extraordinary if also nerve-wracking seasons in the history of Sunderland AFC.
If Tony Pulis deserves – as he does – £1m for keeping Palace up, what should be the size of Gus Poyet’s bonus? Fantastic job, Gus, Bravo the Lads for such a storming finish to the season. And here’s what the boss made of tonight in his customary post-match e-mail …