Sunderland

Wembley Soapbox: Whitley Bay beat Coalville and I hug a Mag

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Most Salut! Sunderland readers are aware that Pete Sixsmith‘s extracurricular activities extend beyond taking the lower sixth on school trips to taking in an awful lot of non-league football. This is his Wembley diary from a glorious day out watching Whitley Bay beat Coalville Town to win the FA Vase …

See also: Sitting on my hands as Whitley Bay beat Coalville to FA Vase

0600 The day is wet, the cat is out and I have slept well, having eventually seen Sulley Muntari’s goal on Match of the Day. Sandwiches made and bag packed for a trip to the FA Vase final at Wembley – Whitley Bay v Coalville Town.

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Board the train for Doncaster. Quiet coach isn’t, as there are many young Whitley Bay fans who are getting giddier by the mile. One dad says: “Calm down, George. Have a can of coke and some sweets.” Child spontaneously combusts south of York.

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Having purchased a split journey ticket and saved £22 as a result, I board the Hull Trains flyer to Kings Cross. This time the Quiet Coach really is and I have the satisfaction of seeing the ticket collector scrutinising my Senior Railcard.

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Bolton Soapbox: how I missed the winner and rediscovered Stuart Hall

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Pete Sixsmith has never seen the point in paying good money to watch football and going before the final whistle. He may not be the East Stand supporter who uttered the words “How can they? It’s like leaving a Shakespearian tragedy!” five minutes before the end of a nailbiting victory over Arsenal but, in his own, way, he shares the thought. M Salut can recall only two precedents (the Paul Danson game at Highbury and the relegation decider at Wimbledon, both 1996-97, and the first was at halftime, in sheer disgust, so hardly counts). But stand by for a third …

Those who know me are aware that I very rarely, if ever, leave before the end. I usually sit it out, grumbling and complaining. I was there at 4.50 a week last Saturday as Fulham ran rings round us and I sat through nearly every minute of the 15 point season.

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Hated from Arsenal to WBA, Salut makes the football Oscars

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Salut! Sunderland has been nominated in the “Best EPL Club Blog” section of EPL Talk’s annual awards. If you think someone has a point, give a helping hand to our chances of winning by clicking ON THIS LINK …

There are sensitive folk out there in the football blogosphere. We need only mention another team to get an avalanche – ok, a trickle – of putdowns.

But it is all, or mostly, in good fun and the fact is that Salut! Sunderland‘s deliberate policy is to attract supporters of other clubs while remaining 100 per cent partisan. As a result, we receive massive input from people who do not follow Sunderland but have a point of view. And in reality, Gooners and Baggies have made some lively contributions to the issues discussed here,

So it is especially heartening to receive recognition from non-Sunderland sources. Look down the sidebars and you see that FHM lists us as a “website we quite like” and that When Saturday Comes gave us special mention in its virtual awards as a “balanced, articulate” site.

Now comes news from EPL Talk that we have been nominated as Best EPL Club Blog in its own annual awards.

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The curse of Chamakh: Bordeaux tears = Salut! smiles

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Jean TiganaImage: Nicksarebi


Another edition of French Fancies and another irresistible pop at Bordeaux. And vote for Salut! Sunderland in the EPL TALK Club Blog awards by clicking here …

No football manager, or anyone else for that matter, should have to complain that his 16-year-old daughter was made to suffer verbal abuse from some low-life “fan” or “fans” during a match, the episode distressing or worrying enough to cause the girl to leave the stand at half-time.

So for that, Salut! Sunderland offers sympathy and support to Jean Tigana, until last night the boss of les Girondins de Bordeaux. And we’d add that we have absolutely nothing against him in any case, since he was not even at the club when the events involving Sunderland AFC occurred.

That is where sympathy ends and gloating begins. Bordeaux 0 Sochaux 4, all the goals coming in the first half, indeed the first half an hour, is a deeply satisfying result that adds a little spice to the weekend’s other gratifying scoreline of Bolton 1 SAFC 2.

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Bolton 1 Sunderland 2 Observed: a gritty non-classic

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Come back tomorrow for Pete Sixsmith‘s full analysis – actually, his it is only his nearly full analysis – of this priceless victory. This is how he saw it for The Observer. We start with the view of a Wanderers fan …

SHAUN O’GARA, BWFC Supporters’ Club

I thought we had chances after chances to win it, but we just couldn’t score. We didn’t play well at all today and our season is in danger of petering out, which is a shame to see us end it on a whimper after all that we have achieved. We haven’t got much of a midfield at the moment and that is costing us.

Player ratings:

Jaaskelainen 6; Steinsson 5, Robinson 5, Cahill 6, Knight 6; Muamba 5 (Gardner 46, 7); Taylor 6 (Klasnic 76, 6), Lee 6 (Moreno 76, 6), Elmander 5; Davies 6, Sturridge 6

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Sixer’s Sevens: Bolton Wanderers 1 Sunderland 2. Safe!!!!

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pete2

This was the performance we needed. Ferdinand, Zenden and Sessegnon shone as we swept aside survival jitters, a quite exceptional response to that run AND the atrocious injury problems Steve Bruce has had to endure. Starting with a winning away trip to Bolton, these are the most recent of Pete Sixsmith‘s incisive seven-word verdicts capturing the essence of just about every game. When, rarely, Pete is absent, a supersub does it for him. There will be no immediate post-match report, though Pete’s full analysis will appear within the next couple of days.

The full Sixer’s Sevens archive – see link below – encapsulates the matchday experiences, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, of a fan who is usually there …

May 7 2011 Bolton Wanderers (0) 1 SAFC (1) 2 Great result, strong performance and safety assured

April 30 2011 SAFC (0) 0 Fulham (1) 3 No forwards, creaky defence, hurry up summer

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Bolton Sunderland: LLLLDLLLLWL …?

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Right, this is your chance to come to the aid of the partly absent.

You will by now know the score from the Reebok. I will too, thanks to texts from Pete Sixsmith. But I may be nowhere near a screen and therefore have no immediate opportunity to post details.

There will be, soon or in due course, Pete’s seven-word “Sixer’s Seven”, Steve Bruce’s e-mail, Pete again in his fan’s assessment for The Observer and then, of course, his inimitable Soapbox.

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Salut!’s week: Bolton couldn’t, but we’ve made a cup final

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Mrs Logic

There must 50 ways to leave the reader in no doubt it has not been a good week. We’ve probably used them all. But let us all bounce back, get behind the Lads – again – and see how we feel at 5pm. In the meantime, here is another of our nervous backward glances at the stories you may have missed …

It can be tough keeping a promise to be upbeat. But there was one item that stood out a mile as an example of positive thinking. Click on the sub-heading to read each item, starting with a Pete Sixsmith special …

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Time gentlemen please to forget humbling Leeds and Newcastle

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This is not intended as a breach of Salut! Sunderland‘s new commitment to get-behind-the-lads positivism in the run-up to the match (on the grounds that hostilities can always be resumed at 5pm). More of a general view on where we are as a club, what we actually want and whether it is time to stop harping on about past triumphs. And then, loyal readers and gloating visitors, it is over to you …

Much of Thursday passed without me realising the significance of the date: May 5. Then I remembered. And once reminded, I knew like everyone else what had happened on the same date 38 years ago. Did I say everyone else? Who else, apart from us, Leeds and a few football anoraks, actually feels any need to recall the 1973 FA Cup Final?

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