Sunderland

Barnsley drop, Burton and Posh replace Luton and Scunthorpe, Walsall get off the bottom in our promotion poll.

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When I first put this poll up, a mere week ago, I wrote

“this is predominantly a Sunderland site and we aren’t claiming results are totally unbiased… …Nevertheless, I think it’s fair to say that SAFC  fans have not been blindly optimistic.”

After only a week I would not able to add a lot to this statement, were it not for two things. The first is that the poll was tagged to promote it to all League One fans for over 24 hours before it was promoted on our facebook page and then on Colin’s subsequent posts on this site. This gave us a small (very small, as it happens) hint of what the whole of the League One fanbase might think. The second was that Colin’s own poll closed, with some findings we can bring to bear on this one.

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Jack Rodwell: going, going … and now officially gone

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By Leon Queeleyderivative work: Dudek1337 (This file was derived from: Jack Rodwell 2013.jpg:) [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Update: and eventually, the statement came [see John McCormicks comment below], short enough to fit into a stop press bulletin – Sunderland Association Football Club and Jack Rodwell have agreed by mutual consent that Jack will leave the club at the end of June 2018. The club and Jack wish each other every success for the future.

Better late than never, SAFC.com will get round to confirming what seems common knowledge and also classifies as good news: Jack Rodwell and the club have reportedly reached agreement to cancel his contract.

Rodwell, arguably the worst of many wretched signings in recent times, is said by Sky and others to be hoping for a move to an MLS club in the USA. Good luck to them.

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The original promotion poll ends soon. But there’s a follow-up survey …

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[polldaddy poll=10001532]

This is really your last chance to vote – or update your vote based on later developments or your assessment of the new regime – in the Salut! Sunderland “gut feeling” poll (above). It closes in about one hour from the moment I post this item.

News on possible new signings is developing fast. Check out https://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/football/sunderland-afc, where you can expect to see what they know at the Echo and what they think worthy of being repeated from elsewhere.

We’ve reached 750+ votes and there is an overwhelming majority expressing a belief in automatic promotion – 81 per cent in total, marginally more than half feeling we’ll do it as champions.

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The bookies say Sunderland, Barnsley, Charlton, Portsmouth, Luton and Scunthorpe. What about you?

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And so we have it: the fixtures are out. You’ll be getting your fill of dates, and conjecture from all over, no doubt, and enjoying the pre-season buzz of anticipation that it brings.

But when you’re tucked up under the sheets, reading Charles Buchan’s “Football Monthly” with a torch and reality bites, do you think you’ll win League One?

Or even get promoted?

If you do, please let us know. If you don’t, let us know who you think will make the grade.

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Charlton at home to start. Seaside promotion party at Southend to finish?

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Can these gates become part of the new fortress?*

Monsieur Salut introduces the full fixtures list for next season, starting with Charlton at home, remembers an ambitious pre-match request from Boy George (a Charlton fan) and reproduces the will-we-go-up? poll …

It’s hardly Man City at the Etihad or even Derby County at the Stadium of Light.

But at least Sunderland’s unwelcome visit to the third tier, for only the second time in club history, kicks off with a home game and the opposition is Charlton Athletic, beaten playoff semifinalists last season.

With that element of importance – big club negotiating troubled waters versus once biggish club, both trying to recreate past glory – comes a first taste of televised action for Sunderland in the 2018-2019 League One season. The game has been switched to a 1230pm kickoff.

[polldaddy poll=10001532]

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The Paddy McNair question and the ins and outs of squad rebuilding at Sunderland

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This tweet, from a Twitter contact (we follow each other), caught the attention.

Julie is somehow both right and wrong.

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Guess the World Cup final pair. You may win a prize (two if Australia make it)

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An Art of Football classic, Jermain Defoe scoring that Mag-slaying scorcher. Click the image to check out their range

With Russia kicking off the 2018 World Cup, as has become the norm for host nations, with their opening game against Saudi Arabia tonight, Salut! Sunderland welcomes contributions from anyone who lives there (and I know of at least one SAFC supporter in Moscow) or has travelled/is travelling to support England or Another Country.

“By our own correspondent” in Volgograd, Novgorod or Kalingrad would have an appealing ring to it – and, no expense spared, Monsieur Salut promises a mug by way of reward.

But why not also have a competition? Our friends at Art of Football, all Nottingham Forest fans but generous sponsors of the Who are You? awards and other initiatives involving prizes, are offering a print of your choice if you win this simnple quiz.

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As the World Cup looms, we remember why Sixer just loved Brazil 2014

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Barry Emmerson: ‘Just delivered England’s No 1 goalie safely for last training before Russia. Brilliant lad, super confident, proud to know him and our other Jordan – superstars that have come through our Academy. Well done Ged McNamee & Kevin Ball’

The World Cup is almost upon us. Time will tell what Salut! Sunderland’s contributors will make of it. All offerings welcome. Pete Sixsmith always comes up with interesting aspects and at least we have a handful of players to keep our interest up: Jordan Pickford (pictured by his occasional driver, this site’s great friend and massive Sunderland supporter Barry Emmerson) will be there for England, as will the other Jordan, and we even have two not-quite-left-yet players, Wahbi Khazri (will he score for Tunisia against England?) and Costa Rica’s Bryan Oviedo making the trip to Russia.

Sixer wrote an outstanding series of World Cup memories when South Africa provided the setting in 2010. And he again wrote compellingly about his enjoyment of the 2014 event in Brazil. Here is another chance to see what impressed him so much …

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