Who Are You? - SAFC Blog

SAFC vs Aston Villa Who are You?: ‘looks too tough, Gus’

December 30, 2013December 30, 2013 by Colin Randall

Since beating Arsenal 3-1 at the Emirates on the opening day of the season, Aston Villa have been at best patchy. They arrive at the Stadium of Light for the New Year’s Day fixture six points ahead of Sunderland, fourth top of the group of 11 clubs separated by just nine points. Our Villa interviewee is Tom Joliffe*, an aspiring Hollywood screenwriter found at the Heroes and Villains fan site. His script for Sunderland’s relegation scrp has no happy ending though the questions were answered before the Everton and Cardiff games …

Cardiff v SAFC ‘Who are You?’: Tan’s tyranny, Chopra’s demons, England hype

December 27, 2013December 27, 2013 by Colin Randall

The questions were originally set before Malky Mackay’s bizarre final bust-up with Cardiff’s unappealing owner Vincent Tan. The relevant question ended:’And is Mackay/Vincent Tan a marriage made in heaven or a mismatch doomed to an explosive end’? Cue hasty rewrite and lots of reflection by our Cardiff City interviewee, Mike Morris*, ahead of Saturday’s game. Mike, like Monsieur Salut, contributes regularly to ESPNFC.com’s club-by-club blog pages …

Everton v SAFC Who are You?: ‘we’ll finish fourth. Sorry, you’re doomed’

December 24, 2013 by Colin Randall

Salut! Sunderland wishes all readers a happy Christmas and fabulous new year

Everton under Roberto Martinez are, on their many good days, one of the teams of the season. The victory at Old Trafford was just one of a string of excellent results and they reach Christmas in fifth place. That makes Paul Dargan*, an author, journalist and broadcaster, as happy as you’d expect an Evertonian to be and he believes with a touch of wishful thinking that the club will finish one position higher. I hardly dare mention where he thinks we’ll end up …

SAFC v Norwich Who are You?: ‘the worst keeper I’ve ever seen’

December 19, 2013December 19, 2013 by Colin Randall

We tried for Stephen Fry, thought of Delia Smith, decided it was too soon to return to Norwich City’s presence …

Chelsea ‘Who are You?’: Jozy’s sheep, Blue donkeys, offside police horses and Nitwits

December 16, 2013December 16, 2013 by Colin Randall

This, said our second Chelsea ‘Who are You?’ interviewee this month, ‘is coming to you from the Acela Express from Boston to NYC’. David Millward* – commonly known as Sid in honour of an uncle who was a 1950s and 1960s bandleader – recent moved to the US from London, where he was transport editor of The Daily Telegraph, his career having survived three decades and card-carrying membership of the Labour Party. He was such a fixture at Stamford Bridge that the club feted him before his departure. He probably expects an easy passage to the Capital One Cup semis when Chelsea return to the SoL tomorrow night but forgot to say so …

West Ham vs SAFC Who are You?: ‘we’ve electricity and stuff down here’

December 11, 2013December 11, 2013 by Colin Randall

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 …

Tottenham Hotspur ‘Who are You?’: Micky Gray’s penalty nightmare, Waddle’s free kick

December 5, 2013December 5, 2013 by Colin Randall

Anthony Ashton* – Ants to his nest of friends, in Sunderland as well as more familiar Spurs habitat and in his adopted city of Norwich – jumped at the life-enhancing chance to occupy the ‘Who are You?’ hot seat ahead of SAFC vs Tottenham. We gave up moons ago on persuading Jeff Beck to do it. But every lost Hi Ho has a Silver Lining and Ants rises to the challenge with no guitar solos but a friendly, honest set of responses on both clubs, PDC and Poyet (and AVB of course) and the afternoon he shared the misery of Sunderland-supporting friends at the 1998 Wembley playoff final. He knows Sunderland so well he even remembers Chris Waddle’s goal from a free kick in the final game at Roker Park…

The Chelsea ‘Who are You?’: Arsenal brilliance, Sunderland woes won’t last

December 3, 2013December 3, 2013 by Colin Randall

So, we face two London sides – in quick succession – that could be said to personify strutting arrogance. Grant James did a great set of replies here last season and didn’t mind a bit bringing his thoughts up to date ahead of the first of those formidable games, home to Chelsea ….

The Aston Villa ‘Who are You?’: on MoN, Darren Bent, SAFC survival

November 27, 2013November 27, 2013 by Colin Randall

David Hale* is @AVFCRant at Twitter. I liked the name so invited him over to Salut! Sunderland. He thinks we’ll stay up with a bit to spare so can come more often; not too often, though, given his matchday forecast. Wes Brown is cleared to play and Neil Swarbrick, so admired by Wayne Rooney and David Moyes, is the ref …

Stoke v SAFC Who are You?: ‘mellow’ Kenwyne, hounded Shawcross, whingeing Arsenal

January 27, 2014November 20, 2013 by Colin Randall

Football’s back. Forget listless England, smarmy but sensational Ronaldo (impossible to like, impossible not to admire as I tweeted after his third), slightly lucky France. Disregard the intriguing battle for supremacy developing at the top end of the Premier. The resumption of proper football offers Stoke vs Sunderland and it really is the only show in town. Our City volunteer is Angela Smith*, former squash pro, broadcaster, lifelong fan. She shares her thoughts on the ‘hard but fair’ Stoke style under Tony Pulis, the fading Sunderland ‘old boys’ factor at the Britannia (with the engima that is our Kenwyne) and the Shawcross-Ramsey fallout ….