Sunderland

Manchester United v SAFC, and why I love Boxing Day

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HaPPy SaNtA cLaUSAlicePopkorn

From all at Salut! Sunderland – that’s essentially Monsieur Salut, Pete Sixsmith, Joan Dawson and a growing army of contributors, have a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy new year. Pete’s already looking forward to tomorrow …

Read our big match build-up by clicking here or here. Or listen to Monsieur Salut 30 minutes or more into this interview with redcafe.net.

The day after Christmas Day is called Boxing Day because of the tradition of giving presents of money in small boxes to tradesmen and beggars – and not the habit of punching your brother because he is hogging the Hornby DuBlo train set.

For me it is the highlight of the year. I always look for the Boxing Day fixture first so I can plan my Christmas Day accordingly. Home game means an early night, away game means an early night; you have to be ready for the biggest game of the year.

Last year we had Everton as visitors to the SoL, the year before, pre-Coyle Bolton Wanderers, who played out an awful goalless draw. This year we are off to Old Trafford, via the pubs of Saddleworth for a pre game snifter.

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Season so far: hope overcomes lingering shame of Newcastle massacre

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Craig Gordon

There is no need for anyone to feel left out. The time may yet come for Cristian Riveros, Paulo Da Silva and David Meyler. Our artistic friend at Flickr, addict-tedKevin, is working on completing his set of Sunderland players: not bad for a Charlton supporter. Here is his work in progress – blimey, he’s done some more now so I have had to update it on the hoof (the pictures are no longer in any particular order as they say on X Factor) – to go with a reminder of our trio of mid-term reports on Steve Bruce’s work in progress …

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OK, so let’s help Niall get the crowds flocking back

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Niall Quinn made plenty of sensible points in his lament to the Sunderland Echo about the disappointing size of attendances at the Stadium of Light.

The season’s average so far is 38,342 which is 2,000 down on last season even though the quality of football is much higher, the squad stronger and hope at its highest level for 10 years.

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Manchester United v SAFC: ‘not arrogant, just better’

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Whenever Sunderland play Manchester United, Salut! Sunderland expects to hear from a Scotsman in Italy. David Schiavone, a United-supporting writer who runs the MUFC podcast site redcafe.net to which we are asked to give pre-match interviews (hear the latest one 30 mintes into this podcast), also has a passion for Serie A. But United are his first love – he cheerfully accepts the “glory seeker” tag – and we thought it was time he answered our questions too. The phrase in the headline leapt effortlessly from his responses …

See also: who would have to top up with cash in a Welbeck/Henderson swap?

Salut! Sunderland: What do you make of the speculation that Qatar may bid for United, making future Manchester derbies as much Gulf as Premier encounters?

I think most people would be glad to see the back of the Glazers and if the Qatar royal family want to bid for United and write off the debt then plough some money into the club then by all means. But if they are too come into the club then they must respect the traditions and for me the manager. He built the club and it is because of him United are where they are today.

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Manchester United v SAFC: who adds cash in a Welbeck/Henderson swap?

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The United TrinityBernt Rostad

So what if Sir Alex comes knocking on Steve Bruce’s door to request and require the signature of Jordan Henderson? Our United friend Andrew* may be a shrinking violet – no photo/no surname though he does run the Stretford End Arising site, with which Salut! Sunderland has excellenrt relations – suspects we could hold out for Welbeck plus cash, though he would really rather have him back. Ditto Andrew: we’d sooner keep both at the Stadium of Light.

Plenty of other interesting thoughts – avert your eyes, Darron Gibson, and Newcastle fans, too (“above their station”) – ahead of our big Old Trafford clash …

Salut! Sunderland: Top of the Premier, doing OK in the Champions League but it doesn’t somehow seem a vintage United year. Fair point or nonsense?

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Mid-term reports (3): good dreams, bad dreams

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Our third and last mid-term report comes, as it should, from Pete Sixsmith. Pete gets to almost every match and applies uncommonly sharp analysis to what he sees. He reflects on whether it is now time to allow ourselves to dream of greater things at the Stadium of Light? But spare him dreams within dreams …

Recently I saw the Christopher Nolan film Inception.

For those who know nothing about it (approximately 75 per cent of the audience at Darlington Arts Centre, judging by the shaking of heads at the end), it looks at how dreams can be on three different levels, which is a bit like us Sunderland supporters at the moment.

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Forget the grim shopping malls – visit Salut’s snow-free, all-night store

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Plugs follow, but a quick word on football first: can we play as well at Old Trafford as we did at Stamford Bridge? Boxing Day will present Sunderland with another stiff test of the squad’s growing maturity and flair. No Welbeck, of course, and no Mensah, which is a huge blow, but we are entitled to look to Bent and Gyan, and our Ferdinand, for convincing performances.
And the plugs? Well, with what little time is left – or with an eye to the new year – why not consider choosing from these cut-price presents (that quiz book you see comes at under £7 from this link)? Or have a wander through what follows …

Until we won our honourable little mention in the When Saturday Comes “virtual gongs”, the idea had been to combine hopes for three points against Bolton with another plug for the last-minute Christmas presents you can get from Amazon via the links on this site. We had the three points in the bag before we could get around to posting it.

Britain, as we know, cannot cope with a spot of wintry weather so you’ll have to see what Amazon says about delivery times.

But any Sunderland fan deprived of these goodies for Christmas will be just as grateful for some new year gifts.

Don’t buy anything you or someone close wouldn’t want, but if something takes your fancy, do feel happy about helping Salut! Sunderland meet its running costs.

Just browse the book offers below. Every order placed is appreciated by Salut! Sunderland but there’s no need to worry that the commission will make anyone here rich …

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Mid-term reports (2): on course for seventh

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Next up with a midterm report is Malcolm Dawson, a regular name here and chairman of the Heart of England branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association. Malcolm, pictured at a branch function with Chris Herriott, the founder (right, and the excellent Gary Bennett, presents his Sunderland Christmas shopping list in case Amazon can overcome weather problems and deliver …


So here we are in the run up to Christmas with our club sitting sixth in the Premiership and if the weather around Bloomfield Road had allowed the Seasiders to continue their bright start by beating Tottenham, we could have been fifth.

Of course, had Welbeck’s strike against Bolton hit the inside of the post and gone in, or had Darren Bent found the target with one of three efforts he might have put away on another day, we would have been fifth. But let’s not get greedy. And let’s not get carried away.

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Birflatt Boy on Blatter’s gaffes: no mincing words

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Monsieur Salut didn’t get as worked up as some about the World Cup venue votes. Cries of foul play? Last-minute manipulation? Prize snatched from under the expectant winner’s nose. Er, no, that was London beating Paris to the 2012 Olympics. But other issues have arisen, so stand by for some straight(ish) talking from Birflatt Boy …

A couple of weeks after the ridiculous announcement that the 2022 World Cup would be held in a country that currently has three suitable stadiums, and where the temperatures during the tournament will be so high that you could cook bacon and eggs on the roof of your car, there is now furore surrounding comments from the Fifa president Sepp Blatter.

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Bolton Soapbox: Cattermole causes Coyle to complain

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If Saturday in Sunderland was cold by normal standards, it was positively balmy by comparison with what was happening almost everywhere else. But 1245 is a rotten kickoff time, as witnessed by empty seats that cannot all be attributed to the weather. All the same, three good points made it all seem like a heatwave. Pete Sixsmith reports on the tough encounter that awaited those of us who made the effort …

Could there have been a worse time for this game? The Saturday before Christmas, a 1245 kick off and visitors who rarely bring more than a couple of coachloads of fans.

Add to that the fact that many people still see Bolton as the personification of grimness in football and I think we did bloody well to attract just under 35,000 Sunderland fans to the Stadium on Saturday.

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