It has not been a happy time for Steve Bruce. Today, his team showed us at last what they are capable of. Let him milk it for all it’s worth …
Dear Colin,
It was a terrific performance considering the opposition. I know some would argue and say we have the advantage with Stoke being away from home, of course we do, but our performance and the way we set about the game was terrific.
There were some big performances from individuals and we’ve now seen glimpses of what the team is about.
This is where Pete Sixsmith captures the glory and shame, hope and despair, excitement and ennui of the Sunderland matchday …
It was only half time and we all knew anything could happen. But we were three up and then, instead of trying to sit on even so comfortable a lead, we went quickly back on to the offensive and scored a fourth.
Suddenly it was as if there had never been any serious reason to fret. A win of any kind would have made us feel good, so the most neutral of onlookers would need no prize for guessing our response to a thumping victory.
For almost as long as we can remember, the Sunderland supporters’ jury has been out on Steve Bruce.
Anyone with experience of the courts will be familiar with the intense atmosphere felt when the whispers start: “They’re coming back.”
Well, we certainly hope we’re ready for Stoke. Last season, they came to the Stadium of Light after the mauling at Newcastle left Steve Bruce in need of a quick bounceback. He got one, courtesy of two Cashamoah £yan goals and the ref’s poor eyesight. How much more urgent is the need for a win tomorrow? Salut! Sunderland summarises a busy, unhappy (for us) week with plenty, too, to interest Chelsea and Stoke supporters …
The ink had hardly dried on last week’s review of the week before the inkwell was well and truly knocked over. Hours before the kickoff of Sunderland v Chelsea, we were hit with news of the loan deal taking Asamoah Gyan to the United Arab Emirates.
Somehow this turned a match in which I feared we’d struggle into an away banker, even though Gyan would not have played in any case because of injury. It was something to do with what the news told me about the spirit within the camp and, perhaps, the club’s own view of the big picture.
Mark Eltringham and Salut! Sunderland fell out a little last season in the testy aftermath of the game at the Britannia when opinions on the way Stoke played differed, shall we say, according to who you supported. All very petty in retrospect, a retrospect sharpened by the untimely death of another Stoke fan Stephen Foster (pictured). This was Mark’s moving tribute at the City fan site, Oatcake, and – for reasons past mention of Stephen here, yesterday included, would make clear – I feel it right to reproduce it now that be has brought it to my attention …
There’s only one way to learn about grief and that’s the hard way. You can read and hear about its phases and effects but you don’t really know a damn thing about it until you’ve experienced it personally.
And when you’ve experienced it a few times what you also learn is that, like snowflakes, grief is never the same twice. It chooses its own way and does things in its own time.
I’ve lost a number of people in my life but none of those losses affected me in the same way as the death of Stephen Foster, who died in Norwich in June. He was only 48. For a start throughout the whole process of mourning him I could never get used to people referring to him as Steve. I’ve only ever seen him as Winger just like he only ever referred to me as Grey Man, our epithets from the Oatcake messageboard, bringing webtards together since 1995.
Guess which jaunty little number Pete Sixsmith is hoping to stream from the public address system at the Stadium of Light around 4.50pm on Sunday? Yes, the one that is played only when we win …
The age-old question asked by barbers of their gentlemen clients certainly applies to we Sunderland fans. Three points would suit us as well as a packet of three of the barbers little specials would suit the men of the 1950s.
This has been a tumultuous week for Red and Whites in the North East. Another home defeat, the departure of our last marquee signing, suspension for the Player of the Year and a general mood of unhappiness and frustration that could well spill over should we lose to the Potters on Sunday, means that we are in a bit of a mess at this early stage of the season.
This week’s “Who are You?” is dedicated to the memory of Stephen Foster (pictured), whose books on supporting Stoke City – She Stood There Laughing and And She Laughed No More** – are seen by many as being among the finest written about football. Tragically, having been the subject of one “Who Are You?” interview and offered to make it an annual event as long as our clubs remained in the same division, he died in June, aged just 48. RIP Stephen.
Richard Hulme* was one of the Stoke City supporters who left comments here after we published a tribute to Stephen. The son of a man who nearly played for City, he readily agreed to try to fill Stephen’s giant-sized boots – and has done a grand job. It is a long read, displaying all the new-found swagger of the Stoke fan, but well worth the effort ahead of a night when we must hope Dynamo Kiev leave his team too shattered to threaten at the SoL on Sunday …
Maybe unless you work in a market, it’s a British thing to feel uncomfortable about asking anyone for money, even in return for legitimate goods or services.
Ads on sites like these can be a pain. I try to be careful about content and positioning and would remove anything that seemed – on readers’ verifiable experiences – dodgy. But ads are necessary if, to be blunt, the site can be kept going with anything like the level of commitment it currently gets. Same goes for the bits and pieces we’re now asking you to consider buying, if they appeal to you. The Salut! Sunderland Shop’s moral high ground is reached by making them all Sunderland-related, and the shop is reached by clicking here …
Courtesy of Rob Hutchison, a Sunderland-supporting voice of reason on these pages and elsewhere, what you see above is the first Salut! Sunderland mug known to have been put to its intended purpose.
What did others – Blues fan included – make of the alleged Bardsley stamp? Was my own defence of him naive? STOP PRESS: see Fitz’s comment – no appeal, now confirmed by safc.com. which suggests we must accept the worst interpretation of the episode. There was, sad to say, no need for quotation marks around the word “stamp” in my headline …
One of the few Sunderland players to perform with consistency and unlimited passion over the past year or so has been Phil Bardsley.
I like to think of him as an honest player with shedloads of enthusiasm and courage. He has limitations but plays to his strengths as a solid defender who offers a bit of menace, and even a decent shot, when going forward. And he does it just as well if forced to play out of position.
But is there a dark side, too, to Phil? I hope not.
Image: Addick-tedKevin