Sunderland

Norwich Who are You?: ‘we couldn’t even cheat properly, but watch Fulham!’

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Gary Gowers

Towards the end of the 2015-2016 season, Sunderland went to Norwich and won 3-0 as part of the Big Sam race for survival. We stayed up, they went down. Before the game, we were able to introduce readers to one of the best Who are You? interviewees of the season, Gary Gowers*. So good were his replies that he took second place in the HAWAY awards – he never received his prize, but we are trying to rectify this now.

As Sunderland’s second Championship game takes us back to Carrow Road, it seemed an ideal opportunity to catch up again with Gary, the editor of http://norwichcity.myfootballwriter.com. Sit back for another terrific read in which he lays into the arrogance of City’s squad last season and expresses no surprise at our own predicament. He’d quite like Catts in Norwich colours but is distinctly cool on James Vaughan and Lewis Grabban. All the same, he predicts a top six place for Sunderland (and for his own side) …

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Norwich vs SAFC prize Guess the Score: a repeat of 2016 would be nice

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A banner Jake produced for 2016 game that we won 3-0

We’ve had a first winner in this season’s Guess the Score series and it’s yet another correct prediction from Paul Devine, a Sunderland supporter exiled in the Netherlands. He sensed we would draw 1-1 with Derby County and was right.

As I write, the Bury League Cup game is still to come. There may be another winner to announce from that tie (NB: the obvious update is that I am delighted we got through).

But now on to Carrow Road.

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The First Time Ever I Saw Your Team: (3) Norwich City

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Norwich. Pulls Ferry and Cathedral

This is turning into a classic series from Pete Sixsmith. Can he possibly keep it up? If he can, there must be a book in this gripping series of reminiscences from a man who has seen more football grounds than Donald Trump has mislaid staff.

In the third instalment of The First Time Ever I Saw your Team, Sixer again mixes football nostalgia, history and travelogue as he prepares for a weekend’s trip to Norwich City with a look back to the first time he visited Carrow Road …

After experiencing one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution in Bury, with its steam railway, its statues of Sir Robert Peel and John Kay (the inventor of the Flying Shuttle rather than the legendary SAFC full back of the late 80s and early 90s) and the home of Richmal Crompton of William fame, we take to the road once again.

This time we are travelling in an easterly direction, ignoring the high Pennines and touching on the low Fens as we trek along the A17/47 super route to what has oft been described as “Britain’s nicest city”, Norwich.

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Sixer’s Sevens: Bury just not good enough, but maybe we are

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Jake: ‘it won’t always be pretty’

Welcome to the 2017-2018 edition of Sixer’s Sevens, in which Pete Sixsmith captures the essence of each game in just seven words. An asterisk before the verdict indicates that Sixer was absent and the words have been supplied by a supersub.

But no Supersub was needed today. Pete was there. We got through (and after the most tedious draw in history we’re away to Carlisle in the next round). His match report will follow, though with Norwich so near and so far I’m not sure when, so for now we’ll have to mull over a very non-committal verdict that make no mention of George Honeyman, who did his bit in a team that just might be coming together.  Maybe Jake got it right with his caption.

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Seb Larsson goes to Hull with our best wishes – and thanks

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Thanks for everthing, Seb – but please don’t suddenly rediscover your set piece genius against us

APOLOGIES FOR THE EARLIER LOSS OF THE SITE FROM THE WEB: IT SEEMS LIKELY ONE OF THE IMAGES — USED OF SEB WAS TO BLAME. ITS REMOVAL HAS DONE THE TRICK

There are departures and departures. Sometimes players go and we’re delighted to see the back of them, either because they proved to be useless for Sunderland or seemed to care nothing for the club. Offer your own list of candidates.

A few are so good or promising that it would be unrealistic to expect them as professionals to stay. Witness the two Jordans, Henderson and Pickford: they’ll always be Sunderland fans but how many of us would allow such simple preferences to stand in the way of massive job opportunities?

And then there are those who have done a job for us but for whom a move is in the best interests of club and player.

Seb Larsson falls into that category.

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Bury ‘Who are You?’: fond memories of Paul Butler and losing 5-2 to SAFC

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Neil Davis gets some light training done

Like Mel, commenting in the Bury vs Sunderland Guess the Score competition (have a go whoever you support), I was at Roker Park on Boxing Day 1962 when an accidental collision with Bury’s keeper Chris Harker effectively ended Brian Clough’s career. King Charlie missed a penalty, we lost 1-0 and a fluke winner for Chelsea in the final game of the season cost us promotion. I was not there when a 5-2 win won us promotion many years later. Neil Davis is too young to have been there in the 1960s but remembers the other game as the best defeat he’s experienced … read of for some great thoughts from a solid fan of a proper club …

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Guess the Score as Sunderland take on Bury in the League Cup

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Jake kicks off a new season of Guess the Score

Pete Sixsmith has added another superb instalment to his self-inflicted First Time Ever I Saw Your Team series.

Whoever who support, it’s a great read, taking in Sixer’s experiences of seeing SAFC play Bury.

Monsieur Salut thought he had missed a rather important shared experience of the more distant past – that awful Boxing Day in 1962 when Brian Clough collided with the blameless Bury keeper Chris Harker. But Sixer wasn’t there that day to share the agony of the Fulwell end (compounded by Charlie Hurley’s missed penalty and a 1-0 defeat).

Torn medial and cruciate ligaments were a lot harder to repair back then and although Cloughie came back, it was not for another season and a half and the injury effectively ended his playing career. Was it a blessing in disguise given how distinguished a manager he became?

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View from the Avenue: a sunnier Summerside outlook

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Paul Summerside calls for a back to basics approach even if it takes longer than a season to mount a serious promotion challenge

Paul Summerside was Mr Doom and Gloom last season – as, in our different ways, were most of the rest of us – and eventually went on strike, boycotting the Stadium of Light in protest at David Moyes still being in charge.

After one home draw against broadly similar underachievers, he/we will hardly be proclaiming the return of Good Times. But in a fascinating debate at Salut! Sunderland‘s Facebook pages – join the group* if you haven’t already – he made these cautiously upbeat points. The optimism depends on Simon Grayson getting the proceeds of the Jeremain Lens departure (UPDATE: on reflection a lot less sensible and lucrative than it appeared; just a loan with SAFC receiving only £1.4m – and more – to strengthen his side …

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The first time ever I saw your team: Derby County

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The newly slimline version of Pete Sixsmith has obviously been reading Salut! Live‘s interesting series Cover Story, comparing different versions of the same songs – health warning: mainly folk or folk-rock). He should actually be contributing to it.

Since it was written by a folkie, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, has been mentioned. Sixer adapts the song title to revive memories of when he first saw us up against the opponents we will face in the Championship. He may well turn it into a regular feature …


The season kicks off on Friday night with the visit of Derby County, once of the Baseball Ground now of Pride Park or whichever company has attached their name to this decent stadium, within walking distance of the excellent Brunswick Inn and the railway station.

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