Pete Sixsmith and London don’t always get along too well. He told us before the Chelsea league game how charmless he found that club and will doubtless tell us again with the league cup quarterfinal imminent. In many ways West Ham is much more his kind of club, with a list of important reservations. Not allowing Sunderland to add goals to superiority on the day may be be added to that list …
Gordon Thrower*, when not hailing the creature comforts of London life that made West Ham a happier place than Sunderland for George McCartney, sounds as if he should have a son-of-Percy gardening programme on the telly. Instead, he is a passionate, long-in-the-tooth Hammers supporter, deputy editor of the Knees Up Mother Brown fan site and the bearer of decades of guilt about Sir Geoffrey’s first, a shameless punch of the ball past Jimmy Montgomery, and his team’s first in that 8-0 debacle. Gordon’s also an old Salut! Sunderland friend, albeit only electronically, and a hero of past editions of ‘Who are You?’. We’ve had some cracking Hammers interviews here but, as the rather important fixture at Upton Park looms, it is more of a pleasure to welcome Gordon back than it is to contemplate the match itself …
John McCormick writes: last November I took a look at the Deloitte Money League (https://safc.blog/?p=38977), which ranks clubs according to income from matchdays, broadcasting rights and other commercial activities, including sponsorship …
After the last edition of Pete Sixsmith‘s series on matchday programmes, and his memories of the games in question, I half-expected a riposte from a stray reader calling himself ‘Watford Gap’ or some such, along the lines of ‘you remember thumping us 5-0 at Roker; will your series be covering the programme on sale on Sept 25 1982, when we pulverised you 8-0?’ Wisely, Pete chooses instead to concentrate on another good day for the Lads – and for one immensely talented Lad. Check out Wikipedia’s description of Kieron Brady: “the skill and trickery he produced lives long in the memory of fans lucky enough to see him and he remains a cult hero among Sunderland fans who continue to marvel at just what a player he could have become but for a cruel career-ending injury”. And check out the clip …
Matthew Kemp* is a Hammer with Salut! Sunderland connections, having written here about his team’s promotion and then answered questions in our ‘Who are You?’ series. Here, he gives a West Ham fan’s honest view of the Paolo Di Canio experience we – and, even more, the players – are about to undergo (he did make one passing reference to that word but we have deleted it in response to popular request) …
Before getting on to Bolton Wanderers and Guess the Score, here is one small piece of unfinished business from the West Ham match.
For my last words on the satisfactory afternoon’s work on Saturday, I shared with readers of the ESPN FC site the thought, already expressed on these pages, that the good, loud contingent Hammers support deserved better than the miserable display their team offered them.
Following on from Pete Sixsmith’s comments on the Guardian’s take on Premier League statistics, John McCormick decided to do his …
Matthew Kemp*, who contributed a pre-season piece in August, makes a welcome return to talk about West Ham’s more than half-decent start to the season, unhappy memories of Gary Breen at Upton Park and his club’s reliance on team work rather than, Carroll apart, “star players” …
Not really an end-of-term review, though it starts that way, so the morning after more playoff games seems as good a time as any to throw open the Salut! Sunderland floor once again to Ken Gambles. It also gives readers another chance to stand up for, or slag off, West Ham: my wager is they’ll do better than Reading or Southampton if they go up …
Not a game with any great talking points. The referee Martin Atkinson had a fairly easy match, though the booking …