Sunderland

Soapbox: Spurs at the San Siro, or Charlton at Hartlepool?

by


In some random jottings from the world of football, Pete Sixsmith confirms that, for him, that world extends beyond the Premier League and Europe. But he finds room to extol the virtues of Spurs and cautions Gattuso on the inadvisability of butting Joe Jordan (memo to sports hacks; headbutt is a tautology – what else would the man doing the butting use?) …

No game this weekend for us after our dismal FA Cup exit. No game means nothing SAFC related to get excited, upset or abusive about – or does it?

Read more

Theo Walcott: why the FA rejected absurd call for retrospective punishment

by

Monsieur Salut did not expect to have to spring to the defence of Theo Walcott again following the recent piece headlined The star’s apology to Arsenal and Leeds that changed cheating debate. He felt the need all the same …

While we had the ear of the FA – on the question of Darren Bent, Fabio Capello and criteria for England selection (which do not, we were assured, include geography, ie where people play) – it seemed a good idea to ask about Theo Walcott’s confession that he dived in the hope of winning a penalty just when Arsenal most needed one.

The News of the World, not your favourite paper if its staff have been listening to your private phone calls, had two pieces that caught my eye on Sunday.

Read more

A Sunderland-Newcastle match to triumph over tragedy

by

When a Mag loves a Mackem ...

A break from meaningful football – Fabio Capello would know what I mean – sets the mind wandering. Mine strayed to Abu Dhabi and two colleagues from my time there who have just tied the knot, producing another mismatch in the history of Mackem/Mag marriages …

It may be Valentine’s Day but no one has ever accused Salut! Sunderland of being an incurable romantic.

We were deeply moved all the same by the story Georgia Lewis told here in April last year about the appalling event that brought a tragic end to her relationship with a Sunderland fan, whom she had met while both were working in Dubai, and the happiness she later managed to find – also in the UAE – with a Mag.

Well, the love story that transcends tribal differences has had its logical conclusion.

Read more

Sir Tim Rice: passions for American music, lacrosse and the Lads

by



There is unlikely to be appetite for dwelling much longer on the disappointment of three successive defeats in games we led from the early stages and ought, in two cases out of three, to have gone on and won.

So let us delve instead into the Salut! Sunderland archive for another blast of nostalgia.

Sir Tim Rice was the first celebrity follower of Sunderland to be interviewed in my series for what was then 5573 – think of the date of our last FA Cup Final win – and soon afterwards became Wear Down South, newsletter of the London & SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association.

Read more

Sixer’s Soapbox: Spurs add to an already cruel February

by

It may be a taxing time for Harry Redknapp, but Pete Sixsmith sees his Spurs team show Sunderland exactly what you need to be a Champions League team.

T S Eliot (not a renowned football fan) wrote that “April is the cruellest month”. For Sunderland fans, replace April with February and you have a truism if ever there was one.

February sorts out the teams who will and the teams who won’t. Go into March top of the League, be it FA Premier or Northern, and the chances are that you will finish the season there. Ditto at the bottom.

Hit a slump in February and you can wave goodbye to a top six finish – it happened in 2000 with 2 points out of 9 and again in 2001 with a similar return and with an FA Cup exit thrown in.

This year we have played three games in February and have lost all three. We have scored some good goals, played some neat and tidy football – and have defended like Stockport County on a bad day.

Read more

Steve Bruce: on not learning our lesson

by
Mrs Logic

Who’d be a defender?   Forwards make mistakes, midfielders make mistakes, but when the defence is at fault, there’s no hiding.  As a former defender, Steve Bruce had comments on our failures at the back that raise some interesting questions …

Read more

SAFC v Tottenham: Quinny knockdown inspires Sunderland winner

by

Mrs Logic

Spurs fans heading for tonight’s game may like to read this Tottenham preview, but not this piece about transfer speculation. Sunderland fans worried about my headline – will it prove a hostage to fortune? – can be reassured that it refers to a contest already won …

Salut! Sunderland said a couple of weeks ago that it would award a prize to the writer of the best comment posted between then and now.

Monsieur Salut is delighted to announce that we have a winner.

Read more

Niall Quinn and the D word

by


Monsieur Salut answers a question raised by an eminent SAFC supporter on these pages. See the original debate by clicking on Niall Quinn: love means never having to say ‘I despise you’ ….

Did Niall Quinn really use the word “despise” to describe his feelings towards fans who watch currently illegal live broadcasts down the the pub instead of paying to see the games at the Stadium of Light?

Or, asked Tom Lynn with perfectly good reason, was the word put into his mouth by the SAFC corporate press people?

Now we have the answer, and it’s from the horse’s mouth, as this link provided by BBC Radio Newcastle’s Martin Emmerson shows.

Despise ’em he does.

Read more