Pete Sixsmith bids a fond farewell to Thomas Sorensen, a great Sunderland goalkeeper of recent times, as he puts away his gloves and enters retirement (from playing at any rate) …
Thomas Sorensen announced his retirement today, ending a distinguished career that has taken him from Denmark via Wearside, Birmingham, the Potteries and Australia’s second city, Melbourne, where he finally hung up his gloves.
Monsieur Salut writes: people sometimes tell me, whoever they support, that they like Salut! Sunderland because it tries to bring smiles to people’s faces. No matter what! There is no football, apart from Sunderland’s Ladies Team in their SSE Women’s FA Cup semi-final cup game against Chelsea on Sunday, between now and Watford away.
So, hardly Ten Years After, rather 17, but will this cheer us up a little?
Between Facebook chats about good and bad referees and other things, an old Newcastle-supporting journalistic acquaintance, Terry Pattinson, and I found ourselves briefly discussing the Tyne-Wear derby of 2000. The context was my assertion that players make many more mistakes at work than refs. I couldn’t resist mention of the Alan Shearer penalty saved by Tommy Sorensen to ensure our three points. And nor could I ever forget the way an American friend, who attended the match with me, later explained the key moment to his equally American girlfriend.
Since we won’t be playing Newcastle next season – and feel free to interpret that as us somehow staying up, them somehow missing out – it seems worth another outing. It originally appeared at ESPN in 2013, just ahead of the Di Canio 3-0 win at St James’ Park in April 2013. Please bear in mind it was written for a largely neutral readership …
If there are sufficient responses to this article, on any related topic, the best – chosen arbitrarily will get a mini-version of the Nick Barnes Matchbook, whose publishers will pay £5 of the price into the Bradley Lowery fund. A winning Newcastle-supporting contributor will be offered a NUFC-themed mug instead, with Salut! Sunderland paying the fiver into Bradley’s fund)
Just as the players (Coates included) were due to report back Pete Sixsmith’s extended season came to an end. But, unlike those on international duty, he doesn’t get extra time off. No sooner has he put his pen down from his other job than he has to pick it up for M Salut and take us on a journey down memory lane: