For this week’s edition in what is proving an outstanding series of”Who are You?” interviews, Salut! Sunderland turned to James Whittaker*, one of Monsieur Salut’s fellow contributors at the ESPN Soccernet site**. Stoke City entries of past seasons gave him tough acts to follow. He rose to the challenge with a spirited riposte to M Wenger, a damning assessment of one of Stoke City’s Sunderland Old Boys and an unwelcome scoreline prediction …
SORRY: TECHNICAL PROBLEMS MEAN THIS INTERVIEW APPEARS IN FULL AT
https://safc.blog/2012/10/safc-v-aston-villa-a-villain-from-the-teeth-of-hurricane-sandy/
When Holland Pintarch* agreed to be our Aston Villa candidate for the “Who are You?” hot seat, we had no idea she would have to rise heroically above Hurricane Sandy to answer the questions in time. Things were tough in her part of Pennsylvania and we are relieved that it was no worse than that in her case. Holland is the type of supporter who dismays a certain type of other supporter, as our exchanges explore, but Salut! Sunderland believes her responses are outstanding and offer as vivid a profile as possible of what drives an overseas fan of the game to follow a British club …
Regulars here will recognise the nom de guerre UTD111 as belonging to a Newcastle-supporting occasional visitor to the comments section of postings concerning our two clubs. It seemed logical to invite Mick Gray – the other North-eastern Mick(ey) Gray and the man behind the username – to step forward and take the “Who are You?” chair ahead of the Wear-Tyne derby. Mick runs the UTD111 site and came up with some great answers …
Salut! Sunderland continues its mission to make the “Who are You?” feature a global exercise, locating a passionate Manchester City supporter on the Iberian peninsular. Simon Curtis*, who runs the City fan site Down the Kippax Steps and a lot else besides, all from his Portuguese exile, tells us of his esteem for all things Sunderland and his belief that few people really begrudge his club its new-found burst of success …
No, Ned Brown*, younger member of the father-son partnership behind the Wigan Athletic fan site Los Three Amigos, is not talking about Lee Cattermole. Nor is he referring to Steve Bruce. As a lifelong Wigan supporter and also near-lifelong exile, he has respect for what both did for his club. You’ll need to read on to have the headline explained. Sunderland supporters, as buoyed by a decent League Cup win as the Latics were by theirs, are desperately hoping for a Premier League victory at last – and certainly not for a replica of the game last season that sent the guillotine blade slicing through the air towards Bruce’s neck. Ned predicts our fifth draw …
It was late in Mick Harford‘s career before he was able to play, as he had always wanted, for Sunderland, …
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” …
Whether the past 10 days represent, for you, the tedium of an international break or thrills on the road to Rio 2014, the return to Premier football is welcome enough to justify bringing forward this weeek’s ‘Who are You?’. Sunderland play Liverpool on Saturday evening and we asked David Wooding*, a Reds-supporting journalist and broadcaster who runs political coverage at the News of the World’s successor, The Sun on Sunday, to talk about his club. Whatever we feel about The Sun’s role after the Hillsborough disaster, David had no involvement with the paper then** and this item from his own website indicates that he shares the broad view of supporters everywhere, using the term ‘slur’ to describe the disgraceful suggestion that drunken Liverpool fans arriving late for the FA Cup semi-final were to blame (from today’s damning independent report: ‘The evidence shows conclusively that Liverpool fans neither caused nor contributed to the deaths of 96 men, women and children’ …
Observant readers will recall the excellent report, from a Swansea viewpoint, of last season’s 2-0 win for Sunderland against his team. The writer was Peter Thomas* and the piece was reproduced from his site Pierre91 in a Day. So it seemed natural to invite him into the “Who are You?” chair ahead of our visit to the Liberty Stadium. Peter, “a Clause 4 Socialist who gets angrier and more radical by the year”, talks about the Swans’ outstanding start to the season, the Sunderland player he’d take “in a heartbeat” and Michael Laudrup’s “stellar” signings …
Let us see whether the Stadium of Light is up to staging a game of football in August after all. Tomorrow night, after the humiliation of Saturday’s postponement, Sunderland are due to take on Morecambe in the Capital One Cup (league cup to you and me). We’ll take the risk of running another “Who are You?” with due apologies to our Reading volunteer, Roger Titford, for having wasted his time last week.
If the phrase “long-suffering fan” did not exist, it would need to be invented for Mick Dennison*. He berates fellow Morecambe residents for their lack of interest in the Shrimps, as the town’s football club is known, bemoans the impact on trade at his “traditional pub B&B”, the York Hotel of the club’s move away from the Christie Park and is not even sure he wanted the football season to start post-Olympics. Yet he’s clearly a devoted supporter, organises away travel and will be at tomorrow’s game …