Who Are You? - SAFC Blog

SAFC vs Everton ‘Who are You?’: on uneven contests and chasing Liverpool

April 10, 2014April 10, 2014 by Colin Randall

Goodison Park, Boxing Day. It was backs to the wall against 10 men after a good first half that should have produced another goal, but the win gave us all hope. Despite our helping of cup glory, it’s been mostly downhill since then and we stand at the gates of doom. Not so Everton, playing out of their skins, scoring for fun and chasing Liverpool up the Premier League. Why, they don’t even need their own refinement of the Whitefall farce, imaginary fouls on Leon Osman, to fool Howard Webb and gain points any more. Barry Cass* is a happy Evertonian who co-hosts a local radio programme, The Footy Show KCC, contributes to Everton discussions on Radio City and runs the mainly Everton-related website, Footyscene …

Tottenham Hotspur v SAFC ‘Who are You?’: they thought they had problems

April 7, 2014April 4, 2014 by Colin Randall

At ESPN, I have suggested that Gus Poyet tries to get his hands on the Edison wax cylinders on which Harry Houdini, not Harry Hood, recorded a description of one his greatest escape acts a century ago this year. He could then play it repeatedly to the team before Monday night’s game at Spurs. As our grasp on Premier status gets ever weaker, we come across Marc Aron*, one of the Tottenham fans responsible for the e-spurs site (@e_spurs at Twitter) with a mission to ‘bring N17 closer to fans around the globe’. He’d find few SAFC supporters to share his assessment of our Jozy, based on what we’ve seen …

SAFC v West Ham ‘Who are You?’: TalkSPORT’s The Moose hunted down

March 30, 2014March 28, 2014 by Colin Randall

TalkSPORT has been kind to Salut! Sunderland. We had a good ‘Who are You?’ with Micky Quinn before a SAFC vs Liverpool game in 2011 – https://safc.blog/2011/03/who-are-you-mick-quinns-divided-liverpool-and-newcastle-loyalties/ – and an outstanding one with Melissa Rudd, as assistant producer, before her club, our other recent opponents Norwich City, visited the SoL in December (https://safc.blog/2013/12/safc-v-norwich-who-are-you-the-worst-keeper-ive-ever-seen/. Now The Moose – Ian Abrahams* – looks at Monday’s clash between Sunderland and his beloved Hammers, dismisses as nonsense the charge that his radio station is Londoncentric, tickles our tummies by saying we’ll stay up and fondly remembers Pop Robson’s playing days …

Norwich v SAFC Who are You?: (2) ‘wouldn’t invite Suarez to vicarage, but …’

March 19, 2014March 19, 2014 by Colin Randall

In the first part of this week’s ‘Who are You?’ feature – https://safc.blog/2014/03/norwich-city-v-safc-who-are-you-1-tribute-to-duncan-forbes/ – the Very Rev Christopher Dalliston*, the Norwich-supporting Dean of Newcastle Cathedral, spoke about a Canaries stalwart, Duncan ‘Six foot two, eyes of blue’ – Forbes, and the Alzheimer’s disease that afflicts him. Here are his answers to a few of the customary questions; Luis Suarez has little to do with either side, apart from scoring against us but it’s a lovely quote. We initially forgot to ask for his scoreline prediction which may well have been a Freudian slip, but he now reckons 1-1 – ‘no use to anyone except probably better for you!’ …

Norwich City v SAFC ‘Who are You?’: (1) tribute to Duncan Forbes

March 19, 2014March 19, 2014 by Colin Randall

We all know how much may rest on Saturday’s game. It is not, mathematically speaking, make or break but with each match that passes without the result we need, there is a limit to how much longer we can keep making that point.

But some things are more important. Duncan Forbes served Norwich City, Saturday’s opponents, for more than 30 years as a robust centre-half and then way beyond his playing career. He played 295 times for the Canaries between 1968 and 1981 (and that may just be the league games) and is remembered with great affection by the fans. Last year he was diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and the worsening symptoms led to him being placed in a care home. The club is involved in various projects to help ensure his continuing care and support research into the disease.

As a mark of respect and solidarity, Salut! Sunderland presents a special, two-part edition of ‘Who are You?’, in which Duncan’s wife, Janette, talks in a YouTube clip (see below) about their life together and his illness and a passionate Norwich supporter, the Very Rev Christopher Dalliston**, Anglican Dean of St Nicholas’ Cathedral, Newcastle, returns to these pages to describe what he means to the Canaries. In the second part – https://safc.blog/2014/03/norwich-v-safc-who-are-you-2-wouldnt-invite-suarez-to-vicarage-but/ – he answers a few of the customary WAY questions. Over to Chris …

SAFC vs Crystal Palace Who are You?: ‘proper clubs, ugly draw’

March 13, 2014March 12, 2014 by Colin Randall

Who to turn to among Palace fans for what could be our game of the season. That was my challenge. Then I remembered a former colleague, Mick Brown*, published author and writer of top-rate features for The Daily Telegraph (he mentions perhaps his most memorable assignment: interviewing Phil Spector just before the wall of sound became the walls of a penitentiary). Mick has Never Lost That Lovin’ Feeling for Crystal Palace and agreed to Be our Baby. Er, I’ll get my coat …

Hull City vs SAFC ‘Who are You?’: Raich Carter junior’s divided loyalties

March 9, 2014March 5, 2014 by Colin Randall

“Not a bad wedding present for Mrs Carter.” That was how the Queen Mother, then Queen Consort, put it when she handed the FA Cup to Sunderland’s captain Raich Carter in 1937, a few days after his wedding. One of the finest players of his time, Raich had scored the second goal in our 3-1 win over PNE. Raich died in 1994. His son, Raich Carter junior*, a product of his second marriage, to Pat (he also had two daughters, one from his first marriage), is a warmly welcome guest in the ‘Who are You?’ series. Not a Salut! Sunderland mistake; Raich is an avid … Hull City fan. That’s easily explained and I’ll leave it to him to do so as he answers our question ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup quarterfinal ..

Manchester City Who are You?: ‘1973 memories make hairs stand on end’

March 2, 2014February 26, 2014 by Colin Randall

Jake: 'do the business, Vito' — Jake: ‘do the business, Vito’

A warm welcome back to these pages to Simon Curtis*, an exile in Portugal who still manages to get to numerous City games. His visit here in late 2012 won second prize in the annual ‘Who are You?’ awards, one judge – Jeremy Robson – hailing ‘the finest Who Are You? article which has ever appeared on the pages of Salut amidst the best series we have ever had the pleasure to read here’. And ahead of the league cup final, Simon offers another hugely entertaining read with great reminiscences of the impact Sunderland had on him in ’73 …

Arsenal vs Sunderland ‘Who are You?’: post-Bayern FA Cup final warm-up

February 19, 2014February 19, 2014 by Colin Randall

With the big teams – Sunderland and Arsenal – kept apart for the quarterfinals, the road is still clear for them to meet again in the FA Cup semis or final. This weekend’s dress rehearsal is on their territory, the sedate setting of the Emirates, as Sunderland warm up for all that cup glory to come. Wembley three times this season or just the once and survival? Better still, of course, would be three trips and 17th bottom or higher. Brad Smith* is our Arsenal volunteer – or was he volunteered? – in the “Who are You?” hot seat. Brad is the creator of the active and up-to-date forum of the less active Arsenalview.com blog. He sees us in dire danger but rates Gus Poyet. Let’s hope his prediction is right score, wrong way round …

‘Sunderland v Southampton Who are You?: 1,000km round trips ‘like scaling Everest’

February 13, 2014 by Colin Randall

Pete Sixsmith’s phone and mine have compatibility issues. He sends goal texts and his Sixer’s Sevens match verdicts and nothing appears. I try to make sure he’s not stranded on on the Pennines by road closures and howling gales on the futile trip towards Man City and he sees nothing on his phone. Then a seven-worder arrived all the same: ‘No football but lots of Hydes bitter’. Since it’s a Manchester-brewed ale, we can safely assume the Durham branch coach made it before the match was postponed and that its occupants then celebrated avoidance of the defeat every pundit confidently predicted.

And so to Southampton in the FA Cup 5th round. Nick Gregory* runs Southampton away travel and transports Saints fans on their journeys around the country (though the long hauls to Wearside or Tyneside – likened by Nick to climbing Everest – are offset by several annual sprints to London0. He had to fit these answers into a hectic week that involved the game at Hull, which explains the terse answers. It’s more of a quickfire Q+A than the customary long read …