Sunderland

Can Simon Grayson’s ruthless streak help Sunderland back to the Premier League?

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‘Lead us back to the top, John!’ Source: Sunderland AFC via Facebook

At Salut! Sunderland, we do not necessarily long to hear the thoughts of Leeds United supporters. Their lot aren’t especially keen on ours either. But one Leeds fan with more than a little to do with this article about Simon Grayson’s prospects at Sunderland strikes a happy note: ‘most of us consider him a quality manager at this level.’ That will do for us, too, won’t it?


It hasn’t been an easy ride for Sunderland in the past year. Sam Allardyce left for the England job leaving the Wearsiders lumbered with David Moyes. Moyes failed to redeem his Manchester United and Real Sociedad failings and ended up taking the club down.

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Birmingham, Wolves, Brentford, Forest, Cardiff, Preston, QPR and Ipswich go missing from our poll

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John McCormick, seeking the truth

I have to say I’m a bit surprised by the poll results to date.

‘Boro being top is reasonable. They have proved they are capable of handling the Championship, have money coming and have a decent manager.

Sunderland in the top six is understandable. It’s a Sunderland site, and no matter how jaundiced the fans are, no matter how concerned over the owner, there will always be a loyal following willing to vote for them.

But last season’s form has gone out of the window with this poll. Villa, who finished bang in the middle of the championship, are up there in second place, while Hull and Derby are out of the running. What’s going on?

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Crystal Palace fan commissioned by Hibernian to design a Lego Stadium of Light

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Salut! Sunderland is awash with people who have taught the nation’s young (to which may be added those, like Monsieur Salut, who proved impossible to teach). And today is a day for former pupils. Pete Sixsmith, away watching this and that in Tenby, promises one of his will be submitting  a report from last night’s 3-0 friendly win at Livingston, Jeremain Lens again scoring to remind us of what we missed and – presumably – will still have to miss.

And now, Ken Gambles delays important business in York – a few pints with friends –  to introduce someone who once sat in his classroom. The images you see are the Lego models this ex-pupil, Chris Smith, has created to depict the Stadium of Light. Let Ken briefly fill us in ….

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A daughter speaks about Jermain: missed at Sunderland, will star for Bournemouth

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JD, a star on and off the pitch

Monsieur Salut’s daughter Nathalie Randall continues her campaign of contrition for having Sunderland as, maybe, her second club (after Liverpool) by offering her own fond farewell to Jermain Defoe, a personal favourite of hers, and urging Simon Grayson to emulate Rafa’s success as he goes about the search for replacement strikers.

Nathalie actually wrote the piece before the wretched news of six-year-old Bradley Lowery’s death. That touched her very deeply, as it did so many others, and her old dad has made some necessary adjustments to the article to take account of the sad development …

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Who was at Hibernian 2-2 Sunderland? Tell us what you think

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Pete Sixsmith had other plans after the Bury game so no one from Salut! Sunderland was at Easter Road for the 2-2 draw against Hibs.

Khazri and, believe it or not, the lesser-spotted Jeremain Lens scored good goals to put SAFC in a commanding position that was duly sacrificed as the home side scored two in three minutes and then went close to grabbing a winner. The clip shows excellent finishes for our goals and woeful defending for theirs.

Both of our scorers were surely in the shop window though imagine what assets they could be in the Championship if they stayed and were committed to the cause.

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Sixer’s Gigg Lane Gleanings after Sunderland beat Bury

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Jake: ‘was that goals we scored? I’d forgotten what they were’

Pete Sixsmith‘s pre-season training got under way with a visit to Bury, where (Monsieur Salut believes) he saw Sunderland clinch promotion with a 5-2 win under Peter Reid in 1999. The early tweets were hardly encouraging. Two down and lots of moaning from fans who don’t buy the mantra that ‘it’s all about fitness’. Then a strange thing, mm well strange for recent times, happened; we scored three times. So Simon Grayson is off to a winning start, albeit only in a friendly ….

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Gambles’ Rambles: Hi Ho Silver Lining, the one breaking through the clouds

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Ken Gambles: bringing more positivity to the SoL

A calamitous season was followed by the calculated torpor of close-season inactivity at SAFC. Suddenly, we moved forward a little, the would-be German takeover collapsing and Simon Grayson arriving as manager. Ken Gambles  isn’t getting carried away but sees reason for cautious optimism and offers a proud comparison with the (presumaby pre-Chinese, pre-Russian sponsorship) Bundesliga side Schalke 04 …

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Enter Simon Grayson from Preston – plus exclusive transcript of the job interview

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Credit: MattytheWhite at Wikipedia

First a club statement on Simon Grayson’s appointment as manager. Read it here or see a summary in the footnote*.

And secondly, apologies to Martin Bain, chief executive, and Simon for hacking their phone conversation. In fact, it’s so exclusive that it isn’t true. All imaginary, just a spot of fun – and a warm welcome to the new boss …

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