Who, as Pete Sixsmith put the question last night, would have guessed it? We were drifting unhappily towards the end of a season that had promised so much and, if truth be known, left us anxious to get the last game over and done with. Then a team still missing several key players turns in a performance, for a full 90 minutes, that was as convincing as some of our recent second halves have been flat. Pete reports on a satisfying finale …
That was a satisfying way to end the season, wasn’t it? Admittedly we were up against a team who were utterly demoralised, led by an interim manager and playing in front of a crowd who looked as glum as I would be at a Michael McIntyre gig.
But, as the old adage goes, “you can only beat what is in front of you”, and that is exactly what we did. We did it in some style, with excellent performances from Sessegnon, Colback , Henderson and Zenden. You can’t ask for any more than that.
We are quite sure Steve Bruce is thoroughly fed up with having to send, or have someone send, the weekly e-mail lauding a good performance but more often explaining a bad one. Salut! Sunderland shares his ennui. But we’ve started, so we’ll finish. How often have we had to preface his remarks by negative thoughts? How often has he seemed to be offering the same excuse as last time? And yet after all that, we get the top 10 finish – just, but it counts – that we wanted. It may make some of the end-of-season verdicts look a little different …
Starting with the last game of the season, something of a romp at Upton Park to bring smiles to our faces, these are the most recent of Pete Sixsmith‘s incisive seven-word verdicts capturing the essence of just about every game. When, rarely, Pete is absent, a supersub does it for him. Pete’s full analysis will appear tomorrow.
The full Sixer’s Sevens archive – see link below – encapsulates the matchday experiences, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, of a fan who is usually there …
May 22 2011 West Ham (0) 0 SAFC (1) 3take your pick … Unbeaten in London and above the Mags OR Easy win and well done West Brom
May 14 2011 SAFC (1) 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (1) 3 … We ran out of steam; Wolves didn’t
May 7 2011 Bolton Wanderers (0) 1 SAFC (1) 2 Great result, strong performance and safety assured
April 30 2011 SAFC (0) 0 Fulham (1) 3 No forwards, creaky defence, hurry up summer
Let us hear it for Steve Bruce’s makeshift finishing squad and a storming last game. It meant we not only finished above Newcastle United but somehow met the owner Ellis Short’s target of reaching the top 10. There has been criticism here as well as elsewhere, but we are thrilled to salute a heartening finale …
We called for urgency and resolve in the final game of a season that has at times flattered to deceive, and that is what we got. This was a thoroughly efficient performance and it brought the sort of routine away win we should be able to expect in so many of our games.
And on a matter of immense pride to all supporters of Sunderland AFC, we end the 2010-2011 season UNBEATEN IN LONDON.
But there is something else to be said before any more is offered here in what will be a brief preliminary to all else that follows, from Sixer’s Sevens to Steve Bruce’s e-mail to Sixer’s Soapbox.
This is it. A season that has been disastrous for one club and disappointing for the other draws to a close with a game that means a lot in pride but nothing in substance. Sunderland supporters are entitled to expect a performance full of passion and desire; as someone said the other day, we’re always entitled to expect it. But think of some of the end-of-season flops of recent seasons, Bolton and Wolves springing excruciatingly to mind, and you see why it seems important to make a special plea today. Niall Quinn has promised an inquest on the season now ending. Salut! Sunderland‘s will begin in the days to come. For now, we offer a second chance to see the interview with the Hammers-supporting writer and broadcaster Iain Dale*, who also runs the West Ham Til I Die blog …
The season ends tomorrow, a milestone some of us feel cannot be reached a moment too soon. Here, then, is what may be the last weekly digest before the new season (though that will depend on how busy our contributors keep us during the summer break) …
Someone invited to explore a Millwall supporters’ forum might steel himself for a form of expression that struggles to get past four-letter bluster. Let it be said, then, that if Salut! Sunderland were to award a comment-of-the-week prize for humour and even eloquence, this week’s would go to one Lord Kitchener from the House of Fun site.
This is not the start of a Millwall-Mackem love-in. The comment appeared between plenty more that were neither witty not eloquent, though they did at least betray a sensitivity that, perhaps unjustly, we never expected from this source.
A meaningless end-of-season match, a pointless edition of “Who are You?”? … Only in the sense that they’re down and we’re safe. Beyond that, Sunderland have masses of pride to play for – we cannot finish lower than 14th but 14th would represent failure – and Steve Bruce’s team should want to preserve their one notable achievement: unbeaten in London. For their part West Ham players have to show their fans they care about restoring the club to the Premier. And we close this season’s series on a high, with the Hammers-supporting writer and broadcaster Iain Dale*, who also runs the West Ham Til I Die blog. He is optimistic about a quick return, sees us as a similar club that will always collapse into dire runs and eulogises the surely departing Scott Parker …
We can give them the benefit of the doubt and accept the word of the Millwall fansite House of Fun that raising money to fly the “Avrim Grant: Millwall legend” banner above the ground as Wigan equalised to dump West Ham in the Championship really was “just a bit of friendly banter”. We had own own moments of friendly banter two seasons ago when, as we supposed, a nation rejoiced Toon Doon.
But what are we to make of Millwall supporters planning to head towards Upton Park on Sunday, when we play the Hammers in the last game of the season?
It comes as no surprise to see from the official SAFC site that tickets for our end at West Ham are still available. They would have sold out long ago but for the greed of the host club in asking £46 for what is not necessarily the best view in the house.
But the original announcement on the WHU website justified the higher price on the grounds that the match could settle the Hammers’ immediate fate and was therefore one that could rightly be re-categorised. Er … cue for a climbdown? Free beer in the away end? Safe passage home?
Meanwhile, reaction among Sunderland supporters to West Ham’s relegation has been mixed. Pete Sixsmith sent a text saying “a nation mourns” and about the only positive a Hammer could take from his words is that when it was Newcastle United, the nation laughed. At the Blackcats list, I found a couple of people in happy frame of mind at them going down, though one SAFC fan, born in the south of Mackem stock, said: “Bit different for me as several family members are West Ham fans and my sister and nephew chose to go that way.”
Me? I resent Gold and Sullivan’s appalling fleecing of travelling supporters this Sunday, but that is not reason enough for gloating. I have several friends who support the club, and only one known enemy, and therefore sympathise with them; at least in the Championship, the friends should see wins and goals, while the enemy will be beaten up by Millwall, Cardiff and Leeds neanderthals.
And I am by no means sure we can muster a team for the final game that would be capable of lifting us higher than the dismal 14th place we now occupy. This, though, is how Pete put it before the equivalent fixture (West Ham away, not the last of the season) of 2009-2010 … Monsieur Salut
Once upon a time, I considered living and working in London. In the 1970s, the leftward leaning ILEA was offering houses, cars and probably caviar and champagne for any teachers brave enough to face the capital’s schools.
I seriously considered it and decided that if I did take the plunge, I would watch West Ham as my “London” team. They were similar to Sunderland – a working class club, although without the history and tradition that attached itself to Roker Park.
Pete Sixsmith wandered gloomily away from the Stadium of Light after another mugging. He was trying hard to be philosophical. Overhearing two other Sunderland supporters moaning loudly about what they had just witnessed, he mildly suggested there may have been positives. Read on, and deep, for the priceless retort …
Another home defeat after another second half collapse and another opportunity wasted to move up the league and claim the “Best Side In the North East” title. There’s not a whole lot to write about to be honest.
Started well, could have scored three before slack marking gave Jody Craddock the opener. Our midfield players get into good positions and then miss the target on a regular basis.
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