Who Are You?
Malcolm Dawson writes…….for our pre derby WAY we enter the cloistered world of academia and find Durham University don Adrian Darnell proving that the phrase “intelligent Newcastle United fan” does not have to be an oxymoron. Adrian and I regularly cross swords over the Bridge table, where he is happy to play in Hearts and Diamonds, but steadfastly refuses to back my campaign to have our regular packs of cards replaced with those where Clubs are green and Spades are blue. The past couple of weeks have seen the boardrooms of both clubs in turmoil for different reasons, but it’s the action on the pitch that is in the forefront of our minds this week. Here’s how Adrian sees things in black and white with an honest and thoughtful set of answers.Southampton Who are You?: ‘Sam’s a boor but will keep SAFC up’
Tom Williams* answered the call at Twitter for a Saints fan to do the honours ahead of Saturday’s match. We …
SAFC v Crystal Palace Who are You?: ‘starting to question Pardew’s judgement’
We heard from Mick Brown, a terrific features writer of Monsieur Salut’s acquaintance, two years ago and now it’s the turn of his son Dominic Brown*, a fellow Palace fan and also a writer as well as an independent filmmaker – latest documentary Forgotten Bird of Paradise – and human rights campaigner. Some things are even more important than football …
West Ham v SAFC: ‘some will clap, some will boo Big Sam’
David Blackmore*, our West Ham United interviewee, is the editor of the Blowing Bubbles print and online fanzine and can also be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/WestHamMagazine. He’s a level-headed Hammer who acclaims Payet’s genius but also the ability of smarter teams to close him down, sees great prospects of Bilic leading his club to a higher level and feels Sunderland’s support has won those crucial end-of-season points in our series of relegation scraps. He thinks we might snatch a 2-2 draw – and stay up again …
Sunderland v Manchester United: MUFC fan says we (and they) deserve better
With our regular Boro-supporting visitor Smoggie in mind, this is essentially a repeat of the SAFC v MUFC ‘Who are You?’ (see our exchange at https://safc.blog/2016/02/manchester-united-who-are-you-maybe-newcastle-not-safc-for-the-drop/). If you have already read it, feel free to move on. But Smoggie noticed that while Monsieur Salut had conscientiously chopped away at assorted references to ‘s**t’ and ‘p***’, he had overlooked a stray ‘f***ing’. That meant, as it does in the slightly odd world of the web, that prudishness on the part of A N Other stopped the otherwise excellent Q+A reaching much of an audience.
Which would have been shame as we received a great set of replies from Chas Banks*, a committee man with MUDSA, the Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association. He’s Old Trafford born, not remotely a Glazers man and even followed the breakaway FC United of Manchester for a year until he found the just couldn’t give up MUFC. His disability is a result of ‘a weird thing called Transverse Myelitis’ which he contracted in 1996 and is tricky to diagnose. In those days, waiting lists to see a neurologist were running at around 22 months. A ‘natural organiser’ with a history of pop music management – see the Teenage Fanclub above and the Pixies below – Chas has plenty to say, most of it spot-on (we’d part company on the cheating question).
Chas had us down for relegation in his initial response but changed his mind a little after watching Newcastle at Everton on the TV.
So here we are again with Chas Banks, and – promoted to greater prominence – the bands he’s been involved with …
Manchester United Who are You?: ‘maybe Newcastle, not SAFC, for the drop’
Another Who are You?, another great set of replies. Step forward Chas Banks*, a committee man with MUDSA, the Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association. He’s Old Trafford born, not remotely a Glazers man and even followed the breakaway FC United of Manchester for a year until he found the just couldn’t give up MUFC. His disability is a result of ‘a weird thing called Transverse Myelitis’ which he contracted in 1996 and is tricky to diagnose. In those days, waiting lists to see a neurologist were running at around 22 months. A ‘natural organiser’ with a history of pop music management, Chas has plenty to say, most of it spot-on (we’d part company on the cheating question).
Chas had us down for relegation in his initial response but changed his mind a little after watching Newcastle at Everton on the TV …
Liverpool v SAFC Who are You?: Jordan ‘immense’, Mignolet ‘strange’, says man from Anfield Wrap
Neil Atkinson*, our old pal from The Anfield Wrap podcast and site, had to rise above a mountain of typos to make sense of Salut! Sunderland‘s questions ahead of SAFC’s visit to Liverpool on Saturday. Once he’d deciphered them, he came up with these thoughtful and entertaining responses, kindly predicting survival for Sunderland and offering a lyrical, Shankly-inspired appraisal of Jurgen Klopp’s needs …
The Manchester City ‘Who are you?’: where is he?
Salut! Sunderland is proud of the long-running ‘Who are You?’ series. We’ve had people from politics, business, the arts, sport, journalism, religion and loads of other walks of life and, often best of all, solid home-and-away supporters of the clubs concerned.
If someone agrees to do it, whatever their status, we are delighted and grateful. If they decline, that’s understood. If they agree and then go AWOL, ignoring all attempts to contact them, the mood darkens. We were chuffed to find a Manchester City supporter who has excelled in a sport other than football. Questions were invited and sent. Then, silence – with no response to gentle reminders in the usual places. So be it; he may have good reasons, despite his continued activity on social media, for being unable to respond even to the extent of saying ‘simply cannot do after all’.
Who knows? A warm, witty or wise City supporter somewhere out there may read this and, at this late stage, take the Unnamed Defector’s place (it happened last season, too, when Martin Haworth – in the North East but a lifelong City man – volunteered some emergency thoughts) …
SAFC v Bournemouth Who are You?: ‘you’re going down, you deserve better’
Just in the nick of time before Monsieur Salut beetles off to Krakow for a long weekend, Steve Jenkins* from the Bournemouth fan site Tales From the South End comes up with the goods for our regular Who Are You feature. He’d take Jermain Defoe back to Bournemouth in a heartbeat and worries about the threat he could pose in Saturday’s game. And he is a strong admirer of Big Sam. Sadly, he believes only one of ours teams will survive this season and that it won’t be Sunderland …
Tottenham Hotspur ‘Who are You?’: a Newcastle-friendly, SAFC-unfriendly affair
Here’s a man with no special desire to cultivate friendships among Sunderland fans. Charles Richards*, self-confessed posh Durham Uni type, responded to our request for a Tottenham Hotspur interviewee in a manner calculated to wind us all up. Loves Newcastle United, contemptuous of SAFC. He certainly wound up our star writer Pete Sixsmith, as you’ll see later today or tomorrow, but assures us it’s ‘all in the spirit of banter’. Charles runs his own fan site thespursreport and writes for another, The Tottenham Way. Now prepare to be offended …