Image by Steindy, Nov 10 2016 (UTC) (own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia CommonsMonsieur Salut writes: Chris Coleman has been effusive in his praise of the young stars of his third victory in charge of Sunderland, the 1-0 win against Hull City on Saturday. But this writer suggests there are other prospects possibly available for loan deals – as well as the targets who have necessary experience – who might help Coleman lead the club away from the relegation zone and complete the groundwork for a brighter future …
The uplifting victory against Hull City does not disguise the painful fact that this has been another disastrous season so far for Sunderland since the drop from the Premier League.
The new era that was set to begin under Simon Grayson faltered, the team has consistently looked disjointed and out of sorts while Chris Coleman’s arrival in Grayson’s place has yet to produce a convincing turnaround in performances – and above all consistency.
Monsieur Salut writes: Kathryn Townsley, our Hull City ‘Who are You?’ interviewee, talked here yesterday about all sorts of matters affecting her club and ours. Hers was such an interesting and detailed interview that I decided to divide it into two parts. Today, Kathryn – who chairs the Hull City Official Supporters’ Club (I still cannot bring myself to call someone a chair), – reminisces movingly on four trips to Wembley. …
Monsieur Salut writes: although we sometimes – OK, often – go back to familiar faces for the Who are You? series, we also search constantly for new blood. Kathryn Townsley, who chairs the Hull City Official Supporters’ Club, is a breath of fresh air with a terrific set of answers that work best if divided into two parts. Today, she reflects on the prospects for our clubs – prepare for some more gloomy thoughts on ours and who can blame her even though she offered her views before our humiliation at Cardiff? – and tomorrow, she’ll be back with some brilliant memories from four visits by her team to Wembley …
Jake: ‘have a go and just hope M Salut’s feeling generous if you win’
Oh dear, muses Monsieur Salut. The piece below was prepared before the Cardiff debacle. Will anyone be left to predict a Sunderland win? Will my absence on hols in Cuba coincide with the first entry-free Guess the Score (save for the Hull fan’s automatic one)? Or will blind faith triumph yet again? …
The first entry in this week’s edition of Guess the Score is, as a consequence of the rule introduced this season, taken. Kathryn Townsley is our Hull City interviewee for Who are You? and reckons her lot will win 2-1.
She also thinks, as you shall read tomorrow, that we may well go down but that Hull will not. That is the basis on which she feels confident that this is not going to the second of three fixtures between the same sides played in different divisions in successive seasons.
Olivia Hutchison has done nothing to deserve the pain inflicted on her by Sunderland AFC when she goes with her dad, Rob, to games, mostly away since they live in the south. Last year, you’ll recall, she even jumped out of a plane to raise funds for the Bradley Lowery fund. Yet today she was obliged to watch in horror as SAFC produced a classic second-half surrender. ‘This might be a long journey back,’ said the text. ‘As bad as it gets? Certainly since Southampton.’ Her words? His words? Jointly composed? What followed were Rob’s one-word ratings .. not for the squeamish!
Daniel Bevan: ‘sorry Lads, but we’ll beat you and you’re going down’
Daniel Bevan* – great Welsh name – is an aspiring sportswriter and broadcaster, the founder of the In Off The Post podcast and blog and an ardent Cardiff City supporter. He says he saw our current predicament coming to the extent that he predicted another relegation for Sunderland this season. He hasn’t changed his mind. And he thinks his Bluebirds will continue to fly high but not beyond a playoff position …
Jake: ‘try to think Norwich, Burton or Forest, Lads – not Barnsley, Ipswich, Sheff Utd’
Everyone knows we can do it. Sadly, everyone also knows what seems to happen each time we say as much.
So straight over to the Salut! Sunderland jury. Does the fight to scramble away from the bottom of the Championship start with a good result at Cardiff or is our plight about to get even worse?
We have been this way before. Early activity in a transfer window seems positive and our hopes rise accordingly, only to be dashed by a combination of factors: the questionable SAFC managerial merry-go-round, an imbalance of expectation and delivery and the air of thick gloom hanging over the club.
But Chris Coleman’s first move really does look like a sound one. Jake Clarke-Salter, a ball-playing central defender brought on loan from Chelsea, “is supposed to be rather good”, says a Chelsea-supporting friend. Lewis Grabban and SAFC: hardly a passionate love affair
Back in November, the Sunderland Echo‘s thoughtful columnist Tony Gillan posed the interesting question: “Are Jan Kirchhoff’s legs so wonky that he couldn’t be offered a rolling contract?
Beating Stockton: should we play the team that did so at Boro?
Pete Sixsmith‘s search for a regular football fix takes him to some odd games and odder places. But at least joining a crowd in small three figures to watch Sunderland Under 23s at Stockton in the Durham Challenge Cup brought him the spectacle of a Sunderland win …
