Who Are You?

The Newcastle ‘Who Are You?’: sense & folly, passion & poison

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Michael Hudson* is the man behind the Accidental Groundhopper blog on non-league football and also our guest Mag ahead of Saturday’s game. And he is already a contributor to Salut! Sunderland. Before his excitable co-supporters cry treason, let it be said that his scholarly but also entertaining piece on the first Wear-Tyne derby – 1644, reputedly a narrow Sunderland win – appeared at our request. Today, he talks of Mike Ashley’s mixture of sense and nonsense, the despair he’d feel if Newcastle were taken over by super-rich owners and his belief that the battle between Cattermole and Tiote could decide the match …

You promised to be a model of politeness unless I asked about Mike Ashley. Sorry, but what do you really think about him?

Firstly, you have to put Ashley into his proper context. Newcastle United have rarely, if ever, been a properly run football club and Ashley’s no worse than Shepherd, McKeag or, back in my dad’s youth, Lord Westwood. I actually think Ashley has some sensible ideas – ending the ruinous expense on the likes of Michael Owen, for instance, or this season’s introduction £100 season tickets for under-16s, but, overall, I don’t think he understands enough about the way football works to run a club effectively. The fact he bought Newcastle without bothering to do due diligence tells you everything you need to know.

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Newcastle’s Joey Barton, Arsenal’s Gervinho: a marriage made in heaven

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It began as a question in our Who Are You? series of pre-match interviews with the fans of opposing clubs, about diving and other forms of cheating.

Then it became the Eduardo Question, in honour of the Brazilian-born Croatian player’s monumental contribution to the art, and finally the Walcott Question as a sincere tribute to Theo for his candid admission – coupled with an apology – that he had dived in an unsuccessful attempt to con a referee.

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The Liverpool ‘Who Are You?’: a daughter speaks

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I may be proved wrong. The Liverpool supporter who faithfully promised to produce answers by yesterday may still resurface (he’s been silent for a week). We don’t even know yet whether the match will be on. But Salut! Sunderland cannot start the season on a blank, so turned to a disloyally Red, as opposed to Red and White, fan in the family. Lets hear from Nathalie Randall* , a terrific little footballer herself …


Salut! Sunderland:
As I write, Kenny Dalglish has spent an estimated £100m in an attempt to get Liverpool back into the top four. More can be expected before we kick off but is he on the right track?

After our recent track record under Hicks and Gillette with spending millions and getting nowhere but in severe debt, I am a little sceptical of the amount we have spent on players like Downing, Carroll and Henderson. However I think the players we have bought is a promising sign for the future. I just wish we hadn’t spent so much to get them!

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Stephen Foster RIP: supporter of Stoke, friend of Salut! Sunderland

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Salut! Sunderland last heard from Stephen Foster, a richly talented man whose books on supporting Stoke City probably made him little or no money but stand as Hornby-standard classics of football writing, in January.

Two months earlier, Stephen had contributed an excellent set of answers to the Who are You? questionnaire for the Sunderland v Stoke City game. When I thanked him, he replied: “Make it an annual event, unless one of us goes down.”

Tragically, there won’t be an annual event. Stephen was found dead at the early age of 48, probably having drowned, at Trowse Meadow, Whitlingham Broad, not far from his Norwich home last Thursday. He had earlier been reported missing.

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Wickham’s ‘£13 million’, Salut! Sunderland’s one million

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WSC: sponsors of the Who are You? awards


Nothing official on Connor Wickham, but today’s developments and eyebrow-raising estimates of £!3m as the size of our bid suggest genuine manoeuvres even if the lad still fancies that Anfield bench (read the footnote*), so first let us deal with a smaller number of millions …

If you scroll far enough down the left-hand sidebar, past all the links to other items at Salut! Sunderland or its sister sites, you reach – as I start writing this article – the figure of 995,769. In fact, for reasons unknown to me, you also see 995,770 just above it.

In other words, we are within a few days of hitting the million mark.

Now I am sure there are loads – millions? – of websites that attract a million visitors a minute, if not a trillion hits a second. Even so, it seems a milestone worth crowing about a little.

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Calling warm, witty or wise QPR, Norwich & Swansea supporters

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Pauline McLynn, one of last season's volunteers

An invitation to supporters of the three teams promoted to the Premier League …

First of all, welcome to the Premier.

Don’t be intimidated by our 10th top finishing place. It was a decent achievement in itself but we went through a phase, as we tend to do most seasons in the top flight, when it was by no means certain we’d be playing you next season.

Now that we are all in it together, welcome also to Salut! Sunderland. Before each Sunderland game, we include in the build-up here an interview with a supporter of the opposing side.

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1) Arsenal 2) Man City 3) Wolves: the ‘Who are You?’ winners

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At each season’s end, we ask a group of judges to pore through up to 50 interviews with supporters of each team Sunderland faced in league and cup, and choose the best. Competition was tough; the panel was offered a non-binding shortlist that stretched to a dozen or so articles, and has reached its verdict …

The judging is over and we have our winners.

A superb season of “Who are You?” interviews, from which any of a dozen, maybe more, stood a decent chance of snatching a top three place in the annual awards, has produced its winners. And we are indebted to When Saturday Comes and Octopus Publishing for coming up with some prizes: a year’s subscription to the more than half-decent WSC, money to spend in the “shop” at the magazine’s website and a copy of the tremendous book of black and white football photography, John Tennant’s Football: the golden age.

Step forward, then, Tom Watt, a well-known NCO in the vast army of Arsenal supporters. In a close-run contest, Tom’s thoughtful, passionate answers were chosen by the Salut! Sunderland judging panel as the best of the lot.

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Manchester United v Barcelona: rooting for ‘worst United side in years’

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Diplomatic relations were established between Salut! Sunderland and Republik of Mancunia a couple of seasons ago. Scott the Red is the republik’s head of state and comes here from time to time to offer his thoughts or ask for ours on SAFC/United-related matters. Who better to preview the Champions’ League Final from a United perspective? And while we’re on, congrats are in order: Scott’s site came second in the EPL Talk blog-of-the-year awards (M Salut prefers to draw a veil over our final position). He’s a bit pessimistic about tomorrow night but loyally predicts a United win all the same …

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Manchester United, Barcelona … and Swansea: guess who wants Gyan?’

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Clásico de lujoImage: americanistadechiapas

It was just a cheeky Sunderland-related question slotted into a quick interview with a Barca fan ahead of tomorrow’s 2011 Champions’ League Final. Who among the current SAFC squad would you like to see in the blue and red of Barcelona? The answer came back quick as a Messi shot. Start learning Catalan, Asamoah. Among all the world’s culers – to adopt the mildly rude nickname for Barca fans – we found ours in London, and he’s Welsh. And Neil Watson* is a man in need of a ticket; as a son of Swansea, he has one for the playoff final against Reading on Monday. If you see an optimist wandering around London wearing a banner pleading for help to get him to Wembley tomorrow night too, you may have encountered Salut! Sunderland’s first Champions’ League “Who are You?” candidate …

Later today: Scott the Red from Republik of Mancunia …

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