Sunderland

Good news, bad news ahead of the Emirates

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Lots of Arsenal fans were drawn into some great crack here over the weekend. Some of them said kind things, but they are probably all looking at this Saturday as a home banker. That sort of means we have nothing to lose. But there’s a lot of pride to play for after the recent dismal run, and no one turning out for us at the Emirates should do so without at least the hope in his heart of pulling off a result …

Confirmation that Jordan Henderson is out for six weeks – not three as I believed from one earlier report – is unwelcome in that his absence, added to Andy Reid’s injury, robs us of most of what little midfield creativity we seem to possess.

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Soapbox: a sign of the times

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In a more innocent age, people often felt flattered when approached for autographs, to the extent of finding a bit of space on the final page and writing silly rhymes likes “by hook or by crook, I’ll be last in this book”. These days, it seems, it is a chore to be avoided whenever possible. Salut! Sunderland can see that footballers may regard autograph hunters are annoying, trainspotterish oiks. But Pete Sixsmith argues that it doesn’t actually take a long time out of their lives to oblige young admirers

As if things were not bad enough …

A dismal mid season could well herald yet another relegation scrap. There is animated discussion amongst the fans about whether Bruce should go to the library with the pearl handled revolvers and do the decent thing. It appears the camp is split between the underachievers brought in by Keane and those attracted to the club by Bruce. And now……..

We have players who are non-signers.

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West Ham’s pay cut saga: the way forward for us too?

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David Sullivan’s warning that everyone at West Ham, the club he now co-owns, faced a 25 per cent pay cut did no harm to the players’ mood, the Hammers dismissing Birmingham City with a minimum of fuss to put more pressure on us at the bottom of the Premier. As our own aversion to winning gathers strength, we wonder whether there might be a lesson in this for Niall Quinn and Ellis Short …


Two stories about Sunderland and full backs tell us a lot about the nature of football.

Mickey Gray was a decent if unspectacular SAFC player, admired both for being a local lad made good and for the exciting partnership he forged down the left flank with Allan “Magic” Johnston. He is remembered less admiringly for his woeful penalty miss in the Charlton play-off final in 1998, and for a restaurant altercation with Wayne Rooney.

As everyone who supports Sunderland probably knows, he also won a star prize for insensitivity when, on the day several members of the SAFC staff were laid off because of the team’s failures on the field, he arrived for training in his gleaming new Ferrari.

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Portsmouth 1 Sunderland 1: sorry Niall, sorry Steve

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Another game against lowly opposition, another failure to show ourselves to be in a different class. Colin Randall endures last-ditch heartbreak – and a missed golden opportunity to win for a change – at Fratton Park

Sorry Niall, sorry Steve: if only you had taken the players on a pre-match inspection of the away end at Portsmouth last night: primitive toilets and catering, narrow steps and a shockingly congested exit path at the top of the stand …

It might have stopped them putting in another ultimately inadequate performance of the kind that threatens to lead us back to the Championship – where such conditions are the norm.

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A tricky visit to Fratton Park, but time to deliver

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An 11-hour flight from Beijing gave Colin Randall plenty of time to ponder gloomily on Sunderland’s present predicament …


Niall Quinn has reason to remember Nov 20 1997. It was, if my memory is correct, the last time Sunderland managed to win at Portsmouth and his was the first of four goals in a superb 4-1 victory.

Thirteen years on, Niall has asked fans to show patience and support despite – or perhaps because of – the present appalling run of defeats and draws. And he cannot be faulted for doing so: booing the team as they leave the field after a rotten display is one thing, getting on players’ back from the first misplaced pass is another (especially in our case, given how many misplaced passes we have come to expect).

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Who are you? We’re Portsmouth (again!)

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So. I go away for 12 days and six home points turn into two, Sunderland are back in yet another relegation scrap and we’re left wondering where the next win is coming from. Fratton Park? We’d love to think so. Dave Byne*, from the myPompey fans’ site, thinks we’ll have to settle for a draw, but fears his own club is going down …

Salut! Sunderland The cup game left Sunderland fans fuming. You must have taken heart for the rest of the Premier season – as in, there’s worse than Pompey!

Certainly on the pitch it has to be encouraging when you beat a Sunderland side that have clearly built on last season and have generally had a solid campaign so far. And yes, I believe that there are at least three worse teams than Pompey in the Premier League but we are now operating with a very threadbare squad and the chances of keeping them altogether feels doubtful. Good result for us though BUT we need to get some victories in the league.

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Soapbox: the day St Ives proved a bigger lure than Wigan

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In which Pete Sixsmith, who rarely misses a Sunderland match, explains his worrying truancy. It’s all to do with the attraction of the FA Vase and a need to get himself, and his blood pressure, away from the Stadium of Light …

A win and a draw. That’s how it went for me on Saturday and it is a combination of results I would have been delighted to take had it been a win for Sunderland and a draw for Shildon.

Alas, it was the other way round, as the Railwaymen triumphed 3-1 at St Ives, while the Black Cats could manage no better than a 1-1 draw with relegation rivals Wigan Athletic.

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SAFC 1 Wigan 1: glass half full?

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With Pete Sixsmith once again missing the action  (and the chance to appear on MOTD2), Malcolm Dawson takes the positives from our match against Wigan.

The journey to the Stadium of Light from my base in the Midlands had a familiar air about it. I have lost count of the number of times fellow exiles and myself have made the trip with the feeling that here was another crucial game. Three points essential.

There have been seasons when we have been pushing for promotion and even two when we harboured hopes of European qualification, but more often it has been the threat of relegation that has been the dark cloud tracking our progress north, emphasising the importance of the win.

Yesterday was no exception. Fortunately, I had missed Monday’s game. I hadn’t been impressed when I watched our game at the Britannia and had no desire to find a pub with ESPN. Reading Sixer’s summing up I was happy to have made the right choice.

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Who are you? We’re Wigan Athletic (2)

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Steve Halliwell*, from the estimable Wigan Athletic fans’ site Ye Olde Tree and Crown, concludes his answers to Salut! Sunderland’s questions and repays all our kindness by predicting at least a draw for his team against us at the Stadium of Light tomorrow …


Right. Say whatever you want, within the usual bounds, about Steve Bruce.

Managed us twice, left us twice so he mustn’t like the pies, mind you it does look like he ate a few.

He got us sorted second time around ( the first time he was with us wasn’t long enough to change the name on the manager’s door ) especially at the back, joking apart he certainly got the best of Titus Bramble, Player of the Season last term.

He does have an eye for a decent player BUT he also signs absolute rubbish, Kapo & De Ridder to name but two of many, he never tends to get anything in-between good to crap.

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Who are you? We’re Wigan Athletic (1)

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Salut! Sunderland respects anyone prepared to fill the shoes of Bernard Ramsdale, whose terrific musings have graced our pages ahead of previous games against Wigan Athletic. Bernard – the Landlord of the WAFC site Ye Olde Tree and Crown – deserved his rest, and Steve Halliwell* has proved himself to be an able stand-in, but – in marked contrast to Barry, our recent Evertonian – at great length. This, then, is the first part of the interview with Steve …

Salut! Sunderland:
Being beaten 9-1 at Spurs seem to set you off on a little run, or certainly didn’t lead to collapse, who gets the credit for that?

Well thank you for reminding me, every flamin shot on target went in didn’t it?

For the two weeks after the game on went my Wigan Athletic tie for work, just to show my support in a small way.

The stick I got especially from Bolton Wanderers fans in particular was horrific but my retort was easy due to us being above them anyway.

As for the PNE, Oldham Athletic, Bury Blackpool (4-1 in the Carling Cup was painful) and other North West supporters I just tended to point out exactly what division they are in relative to us.

I know its smug but while we are still in the Premier League I’m going to enjoy every minute of the fun.

As for the credit it has to be the legend that is Roberto Martinez AND the fans who backed him, the spotty faced nameless keyboard morons on less salubrious boards wanted him sacked.

Allegedly we have professional footballers on the payroll at the DW so why on earth they can’t adapt to a slightly different way of playing is beyond me, the object of the game is the same, as is the pitch, number of players, size of the goals etc.

Roberto tends to favour a more methodical passing game, Steve Bruce ran a tighter ship at the back but its not rocket science or are our players trying to prove themselves stereotypically thick?

After saying all that it is the players themselves who have got us out of the mini slump, it’s a cliché I know but “once over the white line” its all up to them but it was good to have a rant anyway!

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