Jake presents the man with a surname that’s a gift for SAFC-supporting headline writers
Nic Wiseman takes a break from professional gardening, serious running and preparing his editing debut at Salut! Sunderland – if only young Keir gets round to handing in his homework – to reflect on the latest twists and turns in the life of a Sunderland supporter. Will the Lads keep up the momentum of terrific trips to the top of the league and for once see off fellow-strugglers? Nic sees the obvious pitfalls, St James’ Park being one on the last but one matchday of Cardiff’s season, but keeps faith …
This football lark is easy isn’t it? Just get battered 5-1 at Spurs and claim that only a miracle can save us. From then on we lost very unluckily to Everton (I know, I know, that’s what we always say) and then harvest four magic points from the supposed ‘unwinnable’ games at Citeh and Chelski.
No Sixer’s Soapbox from this of all games. Pete Sixsmith announced a few weeks ago that he would not be at Chelsea – has he now relented over Man Utd? – but the decision had much less to do with Sunderland’s then quite hopeless plight than his disdain for Stamford Bridge and those who inhabit it. Ray Knight’s excellent, and amusing Chelsea ‘Who are You?’ made me warm to Chelsea supporters a little (I had already felt pleased when they beat PSG), until one Peter Scott began a series of incomprehensible, condescending postings after my own report at ESPN.
So no Sixer to record this momentous victory. Let a recent addition to the ranks of contributors, Grant Tunkel, offer his own sunny view from California …
Monsieur Salut writes: in all the time we’ve been covering Sunderland, said Nick Barnes as he and Gary Bennett discussed the MAGNIFIQUE 2-1 win at Chelsea, there may not have been a more incredible result. He was probably right. This was truly a majestic display, a win that was as deserved as it was important. It is little short of a tragedy that Pete Sixsmith, there all season to witness all the dross, was not there for this great occasion. Chelsea fans will whinge from here to Kingdom Come about the penalty – I have to say it looked one to me – but will say nothing at all about Ramires being on the field under false pretences for much of the game after his GBH on Seb Larsson. There is still masses to do, but what better a way to start? …
Jake: ‘more of the same (Nov 2010 version), Lads …’
Let us remember, briefly, at happened on a shockingly wet day in London when, before Chelsea vs Sunderland, Monsieur Salut ducked the rain by taking a black taxi driven by a man claiming to the capital’s oldest cabbie. As bad as the weather was, the day was to get a lot worse. To the extent of 7-2.
Then fast forward 10 months to the same fixture of the next season. Chalk and cheese. We played our hearts out and walked on air all the way home (though in my case I was already there, watching on TV, having missed out on a ticket).
The heartbreaking nature of Man City’s undeserved equaliser should not detract from the pride we can take, finally and for the first time since we last played them, in a Sunderland performance.
Pete Sixsmith is probably right – too little, too late – but it is important for own morale, and for the future health of the club we love, that each player puts every ounce of passion he can muster into the five games that remain and just hope that other stumble as we prosper.
Improbable as survival remains, with the club three points adrift at the bottom and six short of a position of safety with just five games left, Poyet’s own self-respect has to make him want to summon superhuman powers of motivation. Until relegation is mathematically conclusive, he needs to drag every scrap of effort and passion from his team.
He can start by digging out a video recording of a recent Chelsea vs Sunderland Premier game. Not the 7-2 home win in January 2010 that might well have been 12-2, but the same fixture of the following season just 10 months later. Without top scorer Darren Bent, given no hope by pundits, Sunderland waltzed to a 3-0 victory, easily the best result of Steve Bruce’s short managerial reign. And when Poyet has finished drumming into his squad how that game was won, he can produce more recent footage of the 2-1 League Cup win in December, on Sunderland’s road to Wembley.
Salut! Sunderland content may be all over the place in the run-up to the Chelsea game. Sixer’s Etihad Soapbox (yes, he went in the end) arrived early and has been posted but there’s still Keir’s Player Ratings, Guess the Score and goodness knows what else to fit in. First, and maybe therefore out of sequence, let’s welcome back – after a few seasons’ absence, if memory serves – Ray Knight*, a solid London trade unionist, good bloke by all accounts and possessor of just one character defect. He supports Chelsea. It’s a great read all the same, with some priceless gags …
Jake: ‘Ha’way Vito, that wasn’t much of a shot from Nasri. Just smother it and stay down for a few seconds …’
So Pete Sixsmith succumbed to the power of a lifetime’s devotion. Instead of West Auckland vs an Eden Buses XI, or whoever, he trundled off to Manchester with his ticket. And witnessed the sort of performance that, if only it had been replicated in every other game this season, would have seen us safe. Sit back and enjoy another tremendous Sixer read …
It is not yet clear what happened to Pete Sixsmith‘s ticket for the Etihad. He has sent his customary seven-word verdict on a match Sunderland fully deserved to win but had to settle for drawing. But was it a sneaky ‘I wasn’t there but kept tabs’ verdict’ or the real thing? Time will tell. For now, let us salute a magnificent performance which, had the chances been taken (O’Shea twice, Borini, Johnson), would have produced an embarrassing result for City. Connor Wickham’s second, a lovely finish from Giaccherini’s pass that Joe Hart could not hope to stop, would have won it for any team but us. We are condemned to the worst possible fortune on such occasions. But bravo Lads: if you’ve gotta go, go like this …
Another competition, more goodies to win, as the World Cup approaches.
In fact, there is no need to be a know-all. These things are much more fun if we banish creativity, frown on encyclopaedic general knowledge and stick to simplicity. So the question will be cinch: all you need do is send me the answer and I will pick a correct answer at random.
