Sunderland

Soapbox: no luck at the Lane (for Sunderland)

by

soapbox

Fair’s fair. With the hindsight not available to most fans – or any referees – when controversial incidents actually occur, Salut! Sunderland accepts that Kevin Friend got the penalty about right. A slightly reckless challenge, but not one that merited a red card. Some SAFC fans go further and echo Spurs supporters (not all) by calling it a dive, even if they also feel it was a penalty “about to happen”. Friends again, Kevin? More on all this later but first Pete Sixsmith delivers his own considered post-match verdict …

A six hour coach journey after a scarcely deserved defeat does an awful lot to concentrate the mind. Somewhere in the middle of the old Great North Road, probably between Newark and Retford, I suffered a terrible attack of fairness, not something usually associated with disappointed Sunderland fans.

Read more

You’ve got a Friend, Mr Gomes

by

It is unlikely that the excellent Carole King had a refereeing performance decades into the future in mind when she wrote the song. But Colin Randall wonders whether Heurelho Gomes enjoyed a huge slice of luck today, courtesy of the man in black, Kevin Friend, as Sunderland slumped to a barely deserved defeat …

IN the objective, sportsmanlike opinion of those in the south stand corner of White Hart Lane, it was clear that the turning point of today’s game came immediately after Heurelho Gomes charged out of goal to challenge Darren Bent, who was clean through.

He’d got away with it in the first half but Kevin Friend had no choice this time but to award a penalty. And a red card surely? No, Mr Friend deemed a yellow to be sufficient and a man who arguably should not even have been in a position to watch the kick being taken made a good save. Followed by two or three other crucial saves as Sunderland pressed for an equaliser to the first half goal.

Read more

Get a grip, Sunderland

by

There are exceptions to the rule, central to the British approach to law, that everyone is innocent until proved guilty.

Countless generations of children would tell you parents and teachers have not always observed the principle. Even in courts of law, there is one glaring anomaly: newspapers, magazines, TV etc have to prove their innocence if sued for libel.

Now there is another category of exceptions: supporters of Sunderland football club suspected of being involved in violence in Newcastle while returning from the pre-season friendly at Hearts. Season tickets have been suspended, individuals removed from the crowd having gained admission to a match.

Read more

Who are you? We’re Tottenham Hotspur

by

facebook2

What’s all this? A civil view of Arsenal, no sniping at Darren Bent and his tweets (though to be fair, we didn’t ask). But Jamie Currie* is Spurs daft all the same, and runs the White Hart Pain fans’ site to prove it. We found the site in the top 50 or 60 of the Soccerlinks chart, among a cluster that included Salut! Sunderland but also sales of football wallpaper and blogs promising Cristiano Ronaldo pictures, a “history of soccer shoes” and “soccer drills and soccer practices” (none of which we’ve yet got round to checking out). Let Jamie deal with the questions we did think of …

Is this the big year – at last – for Spurs? What had the wait been like?

Spurs fans think it’s the big year every year but yes in theory we should have a very good chance of a top 6 finish with a very slim chance of a top 4 finish!

Read more

Melanie Hill: flirting on the Fulwell

by

melanie

When I thank you for the stream of visits to Salut! Sunderland that has sent us rocketing up the Soccerlinks hit parade to the dizzy heights of the mid-40s, “you” includes the away fans attracted by the Who Are You? feature and such controversies as the Ilunga/Jones affair. While I stand by for an invasion by Spurs fans later in the week, ahead of Saturday’s game at White Hart Lane, I will give another airing to an interview from the Celebrity Supporters series that began with 5573 (later renamed Wear Down South), the magazine of the Sunderland supporters’ association London branch, and continued at the old site.

Melanie Hill, whom I described as a “smashing actress known from Bread, Brassed Off and much more” was easily one of the nicest interviewees in the series. She agreed to an interview two days before the fateful Arsenal match in Oct 2002, Peter Reid’s last in charge, and rang again just before kick-off to fix a time. The interview took place the day after Reid’s sacking. As I said at the time, it felt like a whirlwind telephone romance.

Here, for those who missed the interview when it first appeared (and apologies to those for whom it is just a repeat), is one of the stars of our wider support base …

This starts as a tale of two celebrities with strong Sunderland links, of one door opening while the echo of another slamming shut is ringing in the ears.

Read more

Salut! Sunderland AFC (Against Football Cheats)

by

me-in-als-top


“Old bald headed bloke” * – see comments – considers the response from Wearside, the East End and beyond to the Jones/Ilunga incident during the 2-2 draw between SAFC and West Ham …

West Ham supporters have rallied gamely to the cause of their side following events at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

They have done it with a mixture of solid defensive work and aggressive counter-attack (there have also been a couple of more cretinous offerings, but the ratio of joined-up thinking to no thinking at all has been high).

Read more

Soapbox: losing face

by

soapbox


The Herita Ilunga soap opera continues. Pete Sixsmith could hardly let it go unremarked in his report of a grim start by Sunderland followed by stirring fightback and lingering controversy …

Well, where to start after a fairly eventful afternoon at The Stadium of Thugs – according to weeping and wailing West Ham fans.

Let’s start with a moderate first half performance that began quite well and then faded badly as the Happy Hammers took what could and should have been a commanding lead.

Read more

So how is Herita Ilunga’s face? (2)

by


And another thing. Shouldn’t a player – any player, West Ham or Sunderland or whoever – be subject to an automatic substitution if he writhes in agony, Illunga-style, on the ground?

It just doesn’t seem safe for them to get up and resume play, once the penalty/card has been duly awarded, as if nothing had happened. Who knows what damage they are storing up for themselves in later life?

Read more