Sunderland

Man City (2) 5 SAFC (0) 0: the Premier’s soft touches

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Soft touches, or maybe just mugs. This is the result some of us have worried about for a while. Another tonking reminiscent of St James’ Park. Utter rubbish. And that was written with a few minutes to go. Blow the whistle ref, please! …

We’ve got used to awful starts this season.

They don’t come much worse than this one, with two goals conceded in 15 minutes with a minimum of effort needed from Man City, good as they can be.

The simplicity of the first goal from Adam Johnson, or rather the ease with which the chance was created, would give nightmares to any FA instructor on basic defending. Where was Phil Bardsley?

We know where he was for the penalty. And I do not fault Howard Webb for giving it. It was a late challenge, City made the most of it but no serious complaints.

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Man City v SAFC: Trautmann to Tevez – a true fan speaks

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From the Man City museum

A “grand read”, said Pete Sixsmith of our Manchester City “Who are You?” interviewee’s replies to the Salut! Sunderland questions. “Shows the way that the vast majority of football supporters share the same emotion,” said Phil Johnson. “It was a delight to hear Peter Kelly’s views here. They were those of a proper football fan, the likes of who seem to be in declining number these days,” added Jeremy Robson. So who is Peter Kelly?

Well, he is the second City fan I have got to know because of holidays taken in the Far East. Last year in China I met Dan Wild who agreed to sit in the hot seat for a match that turned out to be Mark Hughes’s final one in charge. For today’s equivalent fixture, I turned to Peter*, a regular at the Malaysian hotel where I spent a great week in January. I heard about him while there; the kind Brit who had dug into his own pockets to kit out the hotel staff’s own team, suitably named Kelly’s Heroes. He’s back there just now but, before flying off to Penang, obliged with these deservedly praised answers which merit a second run …

Salut! Sunderland: We beat you with that late penalty earlier this season but what was Carlos Tévez thinking of when he missed that fabulous early chance?

… that he had already scored is my guess. He does miss quite a few, but gets back into position time and again and doesn’t fret. All great goalscorers do that.

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Man City v Sunderland: a Blue day at Maine Road

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Not much of a happy hunting ground for Sunderland, but Pete Sixsmith can hark back beyond Eastlands to Maine Road …

The bandwagon rolls on to The City of Manchester Stadium tomorrow, a ground where we have lost on each and every occasion we have played there. The chances for tomorrow are not great on paper, but if Asamoah can do to Lescott what he did on Tuesday, you never know. We seem to have an almost full squad for this one, so The Brucester’s team selection could be interesting.

I had a few decent days out at Maine Road. The first time I went, I went to the Manchester Programme Shop in Upper Lloyd Street, clutching a 10/- note saved from my paper round, with the express intention of buying programmes and badges. I came back with issues from City, United and non-league clubs I had never heard off at that time – Mossley, Dukinfield Town and Wythenshawe Amateurs if memory serves me correct. I still had change for my admission to Maine Road and a big pork pie and a woman.

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Would Danny Welbeck really want to return to Manchester United?

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Image: addick-tedKevin

Periodically, Pete Sixsmith offers the Manchester United fans’ site Stretford End Arising an update on how Danny Welbeck is doing for Sunderland. Perhaps he should aid our chances of getting Danny permanently by always replying that he’s absolute garbage. Here, though, is his latest mid-term report …

So, after a long lay off in Manchester, we got Danny back into action. He came on as a second half sub at Ashburton Grove and almost scored a cracking goal. Had it gone in, Arsene’s face would have been a picture; not only beaten by one of the “little teams”, but through a goal by a Manchester United player. I think he would have ended up like any Spinal Tap drummer and spontaneously combusted.

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Salut!’s week: boycotting West Ham, loving non-league, facing Man City

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Each week, when we remember that is, Salut! Sunderland gives the busy, occasional visitor a taste of what he or she may have missed. Just because Sunderland weren’t playing last week, it doesn’t mean we weren’t still looking for ways of keeping interest alive. This is a glimpse at what we thought worth talking about …

A £46 price tag for a frankly rotten seat in a doomed stadium to watch, for us, a meaningless – but final – game: fair or rip-off?

Salut! Sunderland is in no doubt as to the answer to that question. Mr Sullivan and Mr Gold may even know what we think, since our discussion on whether SAFC supporters should boycott to game has featured at Hammers fan sites, too.

Read what we – and, in reply, some Hammers as well as Sunderland fans – had to say by clicking here.

And follow the same drill for the other highlights of Salut! Sunderland‘s week by clicking on each sub-heading if you want to see the full posting:

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Ghana’s design guru: an Asamoah Gyan fashion statement (and goal)

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Back to action on Sunday – see our Manchester City preview by clicking here – but here’s a bit of light relief, including an amateur clip of the Gyan goal vs England, while we wait …

Best of all in Asamoah Gyan’s eulogy to the new top – and no, that’s not him wearing it – is the reference to next season, ie there being a next season (with us).

Darren Bent has taught us not to read too much into what players say about their love for the club, their happiness at feeling so appreciated by fans, their contentment in the area they’ve moved to …

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Manchester City v SAFC: ‘what a difference all that dosh makes’

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Kelly's Heroes

… the main difference being that you can now “see a man in blue passing to another man in blue”. Last season, I met a Manchester City fan on holiday in China and he kindly agreed to sit in the hot seat for a Who are You? questionnaire, which appeared just before what turned out to be Mark Hughes’s final match in charge. I returned to the Far East to find a candidate for this Sunday’s equivalent fixture. Peter Kelly* is a regular at the Malaysian hotel where I spent a great week in January, and he even forked out to kit out the hotel staff’s own team, suitably named Kelly’s Heroes. He’s back there now but, before flying off to Penang, did the honours with some smashing answers …

Salut! Sunderland: We beat you with that late penalty earlier this season but what was Carlos Tévez thinking of when he missed that fabulous early chance?

… that he had already scored is my guess. He does miss quite a few, but gets back into position time and again and doesn’t fret. All great goalscorers do that.

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Steve Bruce, racism and The Sun that doesn’t shine: a solution

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Honestly, I am not saying this just because he writes to me after every match, and sometimes between games, but Steve Bruce has every right to be furious with The Sun for its ridiculous treatment of Marcos Angeleri’s ‘ee no like me because I no Eeenglish quotes.

He, or the club on his behalf, has banned the paper from press conferences and the press box at the Stadium of Light. Bruce is considering suing for libel, or so I learn from the Sunderland Echo.

Again, all within his/their rights.

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The Mackem diaspora (6): does Sacriston count?

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SacristonMemorial002.jpgImage: Eidoloon

When Paul Roberts added his reminiscences to the thick volume of life stories in the Blackcats Mackem Diaspora series, the question was no so much how far the net could be cast, but how near. My mind was made up by the creator of the series, Jeremy Robson, who ruled that Paul’s memoirs counted because he’d moved to Mag country. If you still aren’t convinced, Brian Kirby’s more pronounced exile, though still in the UK, gets us back on track …

Any Salut! Sunderland reader who is new to this series may wish to add his or her own, or explore the stories we’ve reproduced here from other Sunderland supporters spread around the world.

There is also the Blackcats Google map, which has now been seen by 5,800 people:

The map, created by Neil Chandler, can be found by clicking here

The Mackem Disapora series:

* 1: From Murton to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll

* 2: Born in Newcastle, supporting Sunderland

* 3 Ladies’ stockings, REM and other exotica

* 4: Home and away

5: A global Mackem’s first game – an 8-0 defeat

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Soapbox: West Brom cause stir after Campbell’s soup warms hearts

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While others watched England, Pete Sixsmith – at least until late in the international friendly – was at Hetton, where his willingness to brave chilly weather was rewarded by a welcome return from injury by Fraizer Campbell …

It was cold enough at Hetton/Eppleton last night for soup. After last week’s balmy 18C, we were back to the kind of single figures associated with the average marks awarded to a Sunderland defender after a game against Stoke City.

However, those of us who braved the early Spring chill, were warmed up by a goal form Frazier Campbell and a really enjoyable and entertaining game between two young sides, chock full of players making their way in the game.

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