Sunderland

SAFC vs Norwich City Who are You?: on Grabban, Delia … and Ricky van Wolfswinkel

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Black Dog: ‘Black Cats don’t scare me’

Monsieur Salut writes: the curtain seems almost down on as bad a season as most Sunderland fans have experienced. Thanks Ellis Short – near the top of the Championship table for money spent of agents’ fees, near the bottom for investment on players and next to bottom of the league when not actually bottom.

Martin Penney is our Norwich City interviewee. He has missed all of five of the Canaries’ home games in 30 years. He’s from the Norwich MyFootballWriter site and the dog you see above, poised to bark loudly at the Black Cats, is ‘a Patterdale called Geezer after the best bassist in the entire world – Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath’. There you have it, and here are his excellent responses to Salut! Sunderland‘s questions …

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Norwich Guess the Score: to think we’ll be at the World Cup

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Enter for fun or to win a mug

Monsieur Salut writes: a family holiday looms so this is being prepared between Black Monday, perhaps the defining moment of a wretched season when even a half-decent performance was undone by the usual defensive frailties, and whatever happens at Leeds. I leave it to Salut! Sunderland colleagues to update this introduction as they see fit after Elland Road. For now, I shall combine the usual prize Guess the Score competition for the next home game, Norwich City and a rare chance to record a double, with some thoughts from elsewhere on a competition that seems to have little or nothing to do with the preoccupations of a club heading for League One (or not, according to results) …

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Leeds United vs SAFC Who are You?: ‘glory days may be gone forever’

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Kevin Ayscough with a miniature Leeds fan, his grandson Charlie

Monsieur Salut writes: Black Monday was followed by Blacker Tuesday, the latest home defeat put in grim perspective by Birmingham’s win at Bolton. It all made a mockery of the hope some allowed themselves after the aberration of a Sunderland win at Pride Park.

But life of a sort goes on. There’s a prize Leeds United-SAFC Guess the Score and, now, a return to the Who are You? series (our Sheffield Wednesday interview never arrived, but there was no reason for reproach since the volunteer’s father had just died).

We first met our Leeds-supporting candidate Kevin Ayscough*, related to our own Pete Sixsmith through marriage, before the equivalent game at the Stadium of Light, a 2-0 away win that set the tone for most of our home programme. Here he is again, disappointed at Leeds’s own failings and urging SAFC to keep faith with Chris Coleman for the battles ahead …

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SAFC vs Sheffield Wednesday prize Guess the Score: can we do it again?

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Guess the score and you may win a prize whoever you support

Seven games to go and after that resounding win at Derby on a very Good Friday, Sheffield Wednesday are the Easter Monday visitors to the Stadium of Light.

For once, it looks as if we may have to do without a Who are You? interview. Monsieur Salut did find a willing candidate. There’s a good reason why she may have overlooked it, or simply not found the time she expected to have: her dad, a lifelong Owls fan, died recently.

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Who are You? Recalling Mart Poom’s header and SuperKev as our Derby hero

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Derby at Wembley 2006: Guy is second from the right, his friend and fellow Who are You? interview Nick Britten is one along from him

Guy Pearson*, introduced to Salut! Sunderland by the first Who are You? candidate of the season, his follow Derby County fan Nick Britten, does not think the Rams are good enough for the Premier League. He is not not even confident of making the playoffs, despite the hotel rooms he and his pals booked back in January to be handy for the final. Viewed from our position, his troubles seem piffling. It will come as no consolation to Sunderland supporters to hear that Guy does think we’ll improve on our current position by the end of the season – he predicts we’ll finish second bottom. Stand by for a thoughtful interview with a realistic supporter who knows his stuff.

And on links between our clubs, Guy remembers that extraordinary Mart Poom equaliser while we remind him of a SuperKev hat trick at Pride Park …

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Derby vs SAFC Guess the Score. We may be mugs but the prizes continue

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In which Monsieur Salut decides to keep the Guess the Score competition running, with prizes, until the final whistle sounds at the end of the home banker against Wolves on May 6 to bring our glorious Championship campaign to a close …

The season began with Derby County on a Friday night. Now that so many of us have written off the season, it seems almost academic that the final spurt to, er, deserved relegation/improbable escape (delete according to choice) should start with Derby on a Friday night.

When it comes to Guess the Score, I’ll adopt the words of Bamber Gascoigne from an earlier television age: I’ve started so I’ll finish. [Update: oops, CSB corrects my memory: it was Magnus Magnusson’s catchphrase on Mastermind]

Despite thoughts of withdrawing the modest prize in protest at the appalling betrayal by Sunderland AFC of its supporters, we shall rise above such pettiness. The mug manufacturers of Weardale – our suppliers, Personalised Football Gifts – need not fret after all. Eight more games = up to eight more mugs to be ordered and delivered.

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The Mighty Quinn: is the great man coming to the rescue?

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‘I learned my trade at Arsenal, became a footballer at Manchester City but Sunderland got under my skin. I love Sunderland’

[polldaddy poll=9968809]

UPDATE: to no great surprise, the early voting has “unbounded joy” way out in front, with “joy” and cautious “hope” following on. But Sixer and James Hunter remain unconvinced the story even has legs …

The Chronicle’s James Hunter, who writes well on SAFC, advises us to to treat the reports with caution. Then along comes the BBC with its own version, namely that our absentee owner Ellis Short has spoken to (or, as the Beeb inelegantly puts it, “spoken with”) Niall Quinn about a possible consortium takeover.

Salut! Sunderland has no inside information. But it sincerely hopes – or, since I can speak only for myself, Monsieur Salut hopes – it is true.

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Wolves, Cardiff, Bristol, Derby and Sheffield United join Middlesbrough, Villa and Fulham as our ones to watch

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no slide rule needed

Let’s go back to the start of the season (and don’t we wish we could).

I polled our readers as to who would make the top six. These clubs came up favourite ( in the order given) and I began tracking them and reporting on their progress from time to time:

Middlesbrough

Aston Villa

Fulham

Sheffield Wednesday

Leeds

and Sunderland

By Christmas, if not earlier, it was obvious some changes were needed.

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PNE Who are You?: ‘stick with it Mackems; you’re a big club with loud, passionate fans’

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Norm Shilcock with Preston born and bred Kevin Kilbane, who started his career at Deepdale

Monsieur Salut writes: thinking Kevin Kilbane had a bit of a raw deal from SAFC fans isn’t the same as thinking he was a rip-roaring success for us. I saw him play badly, but also saw him play well and still be slagged off. To our PNE ‘Who are You?’ interviewee Norm Shilcock*, he’s a ‘great homegrown hero’ and he should know because he used to teach philosophy.

Norm, who ‘blogs, blags and comments’ at www.thesocialnorm.co.uk, nearly didn’t make it to Salut! Sunderland. Incompetence sometimes rules around here and I sent the questions to someone else not just once but twice before realising. So hats off to him for turning in his answers so quickly. Stand by for some terrific thoughts on us, Grayson and Coleman, David Beckham, PNE’s chances of staying up if they made it to the Premier League …

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