Sunderland

Do they mean us? How Sunderland fans shocked a Bristol Rovers Gashead

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Monsieur Salut writes: you might struggle to believe it but Doug Shields, a Bristol Rovers diehard, did an excellent and amusing Who are You? interview here before the game at the SoL. This offering also has its entertaining moments.

But he doesn’t seem to have enjoyed his brief acquaintance with our fans the other night.

A lot of what follows is about food and I do wonder whether sour grapes might have crept into Doug’s dietary programme.

Or perhaps all Gasheads are gentle, indeed genteel souls whose idea of letting their hair down is to have two sweet sherries, not one, to wash down their crustless cucumber sandwiches while mistaking ‘Ha’way’, meaning come on, for ‘away’. Little wonder us ruffians from the north seemed so uncouth. Let Doug, a self-confessed lager drinker, take up the story …

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Sunderland’s win at Bristol Rovers is also a win down Mexico way

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. This is a beauty but click on the image to view all Art of Football’s Sunderland-related treasures

As we all now know, the Checkatrade Trophy has assumed an importance the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Carabao can but envy. The semi-final win at Bristol Rovers, courtesy of Will Grigg’s first goal for Sunderland from open play and a second from Lewis Morgan, leaves us Wembley bound.

There is still much work to do in the league as we strive to take a top-two position. But for now, we can savour the moment and look forward to the March 31 final against Portsmouth. Two grand old clubs at Wembley = a sell-out crowd and a memorable occasion. More from Pete Sixsmith and/or Malcolm Dawson, both present at the Memorial Ground, will follow in due course but may have to await their return from the West Country. So let’s deal with other business …

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The North Eastern Programme Club: when home and away means Plymouth to Sunderland

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All Sixer’s own work – whatever it says about who wrote it

Monsieur Salut writes: for those who bought the matchday programme on Saturday, it is worth pointing out that the article attributed to me was in fact the work of Pete Sixsmith. He was reflecting on the distances that have to be covered by supporters wishing to attend away games, obviously a topic of interest to the impressive bunch of Argyle fans who made the trek to Sunderland …

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Sunderland-Plymouth Who are You? Argyle’s folk-singing fan on what Tommy Tynan did next

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Photo: Matt Austin. Click on it to read more about the squeezebox king

Monsieur Salut writes: time for another Salut! Sunderland first. The Plymouth Argyle Who are You? interviewee and I will be sitting next to each other at the match we discussed. That hasn’t happened before, though I did once accompany Melanie Hill (Mrs Coco the Scab in Brassed Off) to a Charlton away game some while after her interview – Flirting on the Fulwell – appeared.

It is a necessarily short exchange. Geoff Lakeman and I have known each other since the year Sunderland last won the FA Cup, so he is also a little long-in-the-tooth. But he is still a busy man. We met through folk music; he played regularly at the Herga folk club in Wealdstone and I, newly down south, went there most weeks. After a long and distinguished career in journalism, Geoff has returned to music. Not content with producing three sons – Seth, Sean and Sam – who are all fine musicians (and Sam and Sean are married to superb singers, Cara Dillon and Kathryn Roberts respectively), he is on the road again – this time as a troubadour, not a roving reporter

The Plymouth match coincides with a tour by Geoff of northern folk venues and a day off allows him to attend the SoL. I have sorted his ticket and he promises to be on his best behaviour …

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The Bristol Rovers Who are You?: ´the day Sunderland trashed our dressing room’

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Jim Chappell makes the half time draw presentation at Rovers’ game vs Shrewsbury Town. Photo: Ryan Hiscott/JMP. Click the image to see all Who are You? interviews this season

Monsieur Salut writes: when this is published, I shall be thousands of miles away in the UAE, somewhere between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. I may be celebrating from afar two great home wins to make up for the stumble versus Blackpool. The resident thorn in our sides, Brian, may be eating some of his anti-Jack Ross words. I may not be celebrating; he may not feel hungry (and the quick update, written from afar, is that one win and two draws was not a great return on such an open goal of a home run).

Jim Chappell*, our Bristol Rovers ‘Who are You?’ volunteer, is the ultimate fan. Chairman of his team’s supporters’ club for nearly 30 years, he hasn’t missed a home game since 1972.

Jim answered our questions before I went on holiday. His replies will cover both of Sunderland’s forthcoming games at the Memorial Stadium, Saturday’s League One tie and the Checkatrade Trophy semi-final on March 5.

I may go back to him for a between-games update on his thoughts. Jim niftily shortened the usual questions and did so in such an effective fashion that there is no need to reinstate them in full …

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Bristol Rovers vs Sunderland Guess the Score. Aim for a prize-winning double

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There IS a prize and you know what it is

Welcome once again to Salut! Sunderland‘s prize Guess the Score competition as Jack Ross takes the lads to the first of two games in quick succession at Bristol Rovers. Read on and you’ll see it is a special edition of the competition covering both matches.

This is being written before either the Accrington Stanley or Gillingham home ties – Monsieur Salut is away from Feb 16 to 23 inclusive – so you, the readers, are in a better position to judge how we are likely to fare at the Memorial Stadium.

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Sunderland vs Gillingham prize Guess the Score

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Off on holiday the morning after the Accrington Stanley game, Monsieur Salut presents a pre-prepared edition of prize Guess the Score, with Gillingham condemned to the long midweek trek north …

When Sunderland travelled to Gillingham back in August, the emphatic 4-1 win was the third of the new season and seemed likely to be followed by a smooth ascent into the top two. They scored first but even that early setback was nullified a minute later as we romped to victory.

Peterborough and Portsmouth had won their first four games, so SAFC had to settle that evening for fourth place, having dropped one point. But it was reasonable to expect the leaders would fade as we continued to assert ourselves under new management and new ownership, with a fresh-looking squad.

Twelve more League One draws later (as I write, prior to the Accrington Stanley game), we know how that expectation came unstuck.

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Sunderland vs Accrington Stanley prize Guess the Score. Time for players to raise their games

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Will Guess the Score predictions become gloomier, asks Monsieur Salut?

Two losing scorelines were submitted for the Blackpool game, and they came from a known Sunderland supporter and from “Brian”, who insists he is also one of us, just a hypercritical one of us.

There was not prizewinner on Tuesday night. No one thought it would end 1-1.

And nor did I when the Blackpool goal went in and there was no immediate response. At 70 minutes, I decided the next 10 would be crucial, and so it turned out.

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Accrington Stanley Who are You?: ‘a Sunderland occasion to relish- at the owner’s expense’

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Click Jake’s banner for links to all the Who are You? interviews this season. They’re a treat

Monsieur Salut writes: until a day or two ago, it seemed we’d have no Accrington Stanley interviewee for what would have been the return game but for the downpour that forced the abandonment in December. All attempts via e-mail contact and social media to interest obvious or possible candidates in answering our questions fell on deaf dears. With social media, you never know whether it’s ‘didn’t see it’ or ‘couldn’t be bothered to reply’; the one person contacted by e-mail at least said it just ‘wasn’t my thing’.

But I admire Stanley for all the usual ‘proper football’ reasons and especially admire the resurgence of a club that rose from the grave. It doesn’t matter that their home attendances average 2,612, ours 31,615. We’re in the same division and we’ve shown we can struggle against clubs with only a fraction of our resources. So I resolved not to make too big an issue here of this being the first club in League One to be unable to provide an interviewee.

In the event, there was no need to give it a thought. Thank heavens for Peter Leatham*, who gave a great interview before the washed-out game and agreed to answer a shorter list of questions to ensure Stanley’s place once more on these pages.

A shout-out is also in order for Andy Holt, the Stanley owner, for donating money from Sky TV rights to get fans to and from the SoL ..

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