Still not the start of ‘Wembley and Bust’, the series in which our contributors will discuss what went so drastically wrong. But Jeremy Robson feels it in his bones that Gus is about to hop on a one-way bus trip. Who would come in to pick up the pieces, rebuild for a different task (gaining promotion as opposed to perpetual relegation avoidance) and please the fans? …
It’s time to forget about Saturday, the sure approach of relegation and idiotic, contrived controversies about Graeme Anderson’s Jozy Altidore tweet*.
Not yet – quite – time for all Salut! Sunderland contributors to rattle off their pieces for what we shall call the Wembley and Bust series. What’s it going to be about, someone asked. I’ll leave you to guess.
Mark Barber*, secretary of the Manchester City Disabled Supporters’ Association and our ‘Who are You?’ interviewee ahead of Man City vs SAFC, still reckons we’ll score first through Adam Johnson. If you want to know how often he thinks they’ll reply, you’ll need to read on. Check out the Q+A at https://safc.blog/2014/02/manchester-city-v-sunderland-who-are-you-come-back-niall-and-reidy/ and you’ll see it’s come down by two without being good news. Nor is his assessment of whether we can bounce straight back from relegation. Here is a mixture of Mark’s latest thoughts and those he expressed before the postponed game ….
When you read that Maria Miller is married to a Sunderland supporter, Iain, you remember there are worse things in life than being a Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for Women and Equalities who must fall on her sword, whether or not that sword can be reclaimed posthumously on expenses.
What follow are the thoughts of Ordinary Jon. At his own site – http://www.ordinaryjon.com/1/post/2014/04/relegation-finally-catches-up-with-sunderland-thank-god.html – Jon Adamson offers the headline ‘Relegation finally catches up with Sunderland. Thank God’ and we know exactly what he means, and doesn’t mean if you like.
What we need most around here is some feelgood stuff. That may have to await a stomping start to the Championship season that sees us runaway leaders by the end of September. For now, Jon’s probably striking a chord with many …
Everton fans who stray here looking for our player-by-player review of their side will be disappointed. This is the slot where Keir Bradwell sums up the contributions of Sunderland’s team, as seen through a 13-year-old’s eyes, and awards marks out of 10 …
If this had been just another match, it was a disappointing but acceptable home defeat, bottom against near-the-top and making them sweat at times before conceding a horrendously unlucky own goal by Wes Brown. Unfortunately, it was a result that meant more than just three points lost. A win would have raised hope, false though the hope might have been. It would certainly have prolonged the agony. That agony, we must pretty much admit, is now over. Look at the other results. They could not have been worse. Games in hand we probably won’t win and the best we can now hope for is somehow avoiding bottom. Pete Sixsmith detected slender hope at half time – ‘the corpse is twitching’ – but was making funeral plans by the end ..
I have promised a prize in each Guess the Score unless or until relegation is a certainty. That holds. Pete …
Goodison Park, Boxing Day. It was backs to the wall against 10 men after a good first half that should have produced another goal, but the win gave us all hope. Despite our helping of cup glory, it’s been mostly downhill since then and we stand at the gates of doom. Not so Everton, playing out of their skins, scoring for fun and chasing Liverpool up the Premier League. Why, they don’t even need their own refinement of the Whitefall farce, imaginary fouls on Leon Osman, to fool Howard Webb and gain points any more. Barry Cass* is a happy Evertonian who co-hosts a local radio programme, The Footy Show KCC, contributes to Everton discussions on Radio City and runs the mainly Everton-related website, Footyscene …
The time for the proper inquest is not quite with us. Soon enough, Salut! Sunderland contributors will be having their say on a season that has had one high spot but otherwise trundled relentlessly towards the abyss. That doesn’t stop us thinking about the mess we’re in and Jeremy Robson offers some preliminary conclusions …
Keir Bradwell doesn’t like games that end 5-1. I imagine that it’s because he thinks we always end up on the wrong end of the 5 but he’s young and he’ll learn.
While we’re focusing on the number five, did anyone get that (out of 10) in his ratings? Yes, Adam Johnson, but someone else did even better. Read on to find out who that hero is: