Sunderland

England, our England – provided you play for Aston Villa not Sunderland

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Elliott Brown

Andy Humble, SAFC-supporting Aussie exile and stalwart of the Blackcats list,, took the words clean out of our mouths after reading Darren Bent’s staggering comment that Fabio Capello had told him his chances of playing for England had improved because of his move from top-seven Sunderland to struggling Villa …

Having heard about this the other day, and just read more about it, I was surprised to see no further comments.

I was at least expecting Jeremy Robson to have passed comment. As no one has mentioned it, I thought I needed to vent my spleen …

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West Ham v Spurs: two Olympic winners

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Olympic Stadium from the DLRBen Sutherland


Jeremy Robson normally has little time for Seb Coe and cannot bring himself to doff his cap and address him as M’lud. But he agreed with old Seb on the best future for the Olympic stadium and is delighted that the right result seems on the point of being announced …

What a load of hot air and waste of time!

It would appear that the Olympic stadium which is likely to cost somewhere around 565M GBP has been granted a stay of execution. It will not, after all, be razed to the ground when the shadows of the Olympic torch lengthen.

In fact it is more than a mere reprieve: new life will be breathed as a result into a grand old lady of English football, dressed in a traditional frock of claret and blue.

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Tottenham Hotspur ‘Who are You?’: forgetting past glories

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Football fans come in different forms. Jim Duggan* has formidable knowledge of and deep love for his club, Tottenham Hotspur. He runs an impressive website, www.topspurs.com, and looks forward, not back to the Spurs golden era, despite powerful respect for the Spurs “holy trinity” … but wild horses wouldn’t drag him to the Stadium of Light for Saturday’s game, and he doesn’t get to WHL these days either. None of which stops him having some strong views on his team and the game generally …

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Niall Quinn: love is never having to say ‘I despise you’

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de·spise? ?
[dih-spahyz]
–verb (used with object), -spised, -spis·ing.
to regard with contempt, distaste, disgust, or disdain; scorn; loathe.

Among all the responses to the Salut! Sunderland piece on Theo Walcott’s admission that he had dived in the hope of stealing a penalty, this struck me as a genuinely nice – and totally unrelated – line from Matthew Wade, an Arsenal fan: “The mighty Quinn still has an element of cult-hero-ness down here.”

Sunderland supporters, of course, have huge affection for big Niall. For many, it’s practically a love story in which both parties show commitment and loyalty.

As with most relationships, of course, there are downs as well as ups, with faults on both sides. Niall wasn’t much of a manager, he escaped by the skin of his teeth after at first failing to make proper replacement for Roy Keane and he occasionally gets a call wrong.

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The star’s apology to Arsenal and Leeds that changed cheating debate

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Theo WalcottImage: Wonker

It was while I was away on holiday and we were being dumped out of the FA Cup by mighty Notts County that Theo Walcott made a statement I have since been unable to shake from my mind.

Arsenal nearly had their own cup day stinker, leaving it desperately late to snatch a draw at home to Leeds. This proved crucial as the Gunners went on to win the Elland Road replay comfortably.

But what made a real impact on me was the subsequent statement from Walcott, posted to the official Arsenal site.

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Pity Wolves: from lip-licking predators to howling failures

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By now, most of us have probably heard, read and/or written as much about Stoke City v SAFC as we can take. Time to move on, and to spare a thought for our old manager Mick McCarthy. Bill Taylor, pictured with the Germany coach Joachim Low during a recent trip to Stuttgart (surely not a mission to poach Low to Molineux) wonders how poor old Wolves can be languishing at second bottom …

This is far from an original thought but… funny old game, football.

Consider, for instance, the top seven teams in the Premiership: ManU, Arsenal, ManCity, Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool and Sunderland.

Now consider the position of a club that’s beaten five of those sides so far this season – everyone but Arsenal and Spurs – coming back from a very early goal deficit on Saturday to nail Brandchester United 2-1.

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Stoke Soapbox: blinded by the truth

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STOKE CITY: AN APOLOGY

In common with most parts of the media, and an overwhelming majority of neutral onlookers other blinkered SAFC supporters, Salut! Sunderland may have gained or given the impression that Stoke’s tactics on Saturday were not only ugly but bordered on thuggery of a kind that Mr Lee Probert ought to have noticed and punished. It has now been drawn to our attention that far from being a bunch of ruffians whose priority is to crowd, obstruct, push and restrain the opposing goalkeeper at set pieces, they are standard-bearers for football’s Corinthian spirit and the aesthetic joys of the sport at its best. Sunderland fans, in particular, reek of sour grapes and are just jealous because Rory Delap never put in a menacing long throw in his time at their club. We therefore apologise unreservedly to Mr Tony Pulis and the players, staff and supporters of Stoke City.

Now let Pete Sixsmith embrace the mood of contrition …

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Stoke 3 SAFC 2 Observed: blemishes on the beautiful game

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Mark Eltringham, our Stoke City previewer, is indignant. Why, he thunders, didn’t we mention Lee Cattermole’s great escape at the Stadium of Light? We did, Mark; see “Sorry Stoke, for once we carried the luck“. Salut! Sunderland is an honest sort of site. And Pete Sixsmitb gave another burst of honesty when The Observer asked for his thoughts on yesterday’s match. First, though, the verdict from another Stoke fan …

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Steve Bruce: soft Stoke goals, soft officials

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The boss has sent me his usual post-match e-mail; he wasn’t impressed with the refereeing either – but he did realise that his own defence needed a rocket for the sloppiness that cost us all the points …

Dear Colin

It’s so disappointing to lose in that manner and it’s a big kick in the teeth considering how well we played.

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