Salut!’s week: Arsenal honours, Barca barbs, Liverpool chancers, Sunderland ratings

Mrs Logic

As mentioned here last Saturday, there may be no need for weekly digests throughout the close season, when good people ought to be turning their thoughts to holidays, picnics and Durham County Cricket Club (top of the league when last I checked).

But this has been an unusually busy week, more so than many during the football season.

We concluded a great set of end-of-season reviews, eight well-argued verdicts on what it was like to be a Sunderland supporter in 2010-2011.

There were the “Who are You?” awards to dispense – Arsenal the winners – plus musings on North-eastern footballing allegiances, Liverpool’s reported bid to lure Jordan Henderson to Anfield, one last look at the game in France … and the demolition of Manchester United by Barcelona. As always, click on the sub-heading if it makes you want to read more …

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1) Arsenal 2) Man City 3) Wolves: the ‘Who are You?’ winners

At each season’s end, we ask a group of judges to pore through up to 50 interviews with supporters of each team Sunderland faced in league and cup, and choose the best. Competition was tough; the panel was offered a non-binding shortlist that stretched to a dozen or so articles, and has reached its verdict …

The judging is over and we have our winners.

A superb season of “Who are You?” interviews, from which any of a dozen, maybe more, stood a decent chance of snatching a top three place in the annual awards, has produced its winners. And we are indebted to When Saturday Comes and Octopus Publishing for coming up with some prizes: a year’s subscription to the more than half-decent WSC, money to spend in the “shop” at the magazine’s website and a copy of the tremendous book of black and white football photography, John Tennant’s Football: the golden age.

Step forward, then, Tom Watt, a well-known NCO in the vast army of Arsenal supporters. In a close-run contest, Tom’s thoughtful, passionate answers were chosen by the Salut! Sunderland judging panel as the best of the lot.

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Salut! Sunderland’s week: Everton calamity, Arsenal jitters, our new look

Mrs Logic

Before we offer a quick glance back at the week as seen by Salut! Sunderland, stand by for some news of our own: the site is about to undergo a long-overdue redesign. The idea is to make it look less like a blog, more a magazine. If there are things you’d hate to see go, features you could happily do without, links you find useful/a waste of space … etc etc … here is the chance to sound off. Older readers may remember Shots at Sleeman in the Sunday Sun. This can be Shots at Sixer & Salut …

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Who are You?: ‘Up the Arsenal, down with Gooners’

A few days ahead of Arsenal v SAFC, 5-0 against Orient has an ominous ring to it. Has life picked up again for the Gunners at just the wrong time for us? Our Arsenal previewer, the infuriatingly prolific writer, actor and broadcaster Tom Watt* certainly sounds like an optimist.
When it comes to soaps, I’m more
Coronation Street – absurd storylines and all – than EastEnders. So I’d forgotten that Tom played Lofty Holloway for three years. I did recall, however, that he was a likeable phone-in host in earlier days of TalkSport – and a committed G*****. Read on – and his replies do make for an excellent, provocative read – to see why he’ll be pleased with that spot of censorship. And don’t call him a fan either …

Salut! Sunderland:
Oh dear. If you need a fillip after the bitter disappointment of Wembley, you have to look no further than the fixture list showing Sunderland as next up in the Premier. Home banker?

I don’t know about that. It is far more important than a fillip to be honest. The disappointment of Wembley means the next fixture becomes probably the single most important game of the season. If we beat Sunderland we are still in with a fantastic chance of winning the league whereas anything less than a win could make that unachievable.

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