This is where Pete Sixsmith captures the glory and shame, hope and despair, excitement and ennui of the Sunderland matchday experience. When, rarely, Pete is absent or delayed, a supersub does it for him and the seven-word verdict is preceded by an asterisk. Pete’s full analysis of the game will usually appear within a day or two.
After the excitement and exhilaration of beating the title favourites, a different kind of game altogether awaits Sunderland tomorrow night. Wigan away comes close on the heels of Wigan at home, which finally did for Steve Bruce in the sense that whatever was in the Sunderland owner’s mind by then, he could hardly have fired him if he’d led us to a 5-0 victory.
Rob Speakman*, a moderator at the Latics site This Northern Soul and a man with a Reg Vardy Sunderland top, is one of those unforgiving Wigan supporters who take pleasure in Bruce’s downfall …
Monsieur Salut looks back on a momentous week for all who care about Sunderland AFC …
As I began to write this review of the week, we were a day into the post-Bruce era of Sunderland AFC, three days from an important game at Molineux.
By the time I finished the first draft (these are after thoughts), we were just waiting for official word that Martin ONeill had Been appointed in Steve Bruce’s place. And MoN knows perfectly well what the Sunderland faithful will be hoping he can pull off.
And what a week it has been.
There are not that many Sixsmiths about, but even if you leave aside the one who used to be on telly (Martin?), the surname does not end with our own big Pete. Step forward Phil Sixsmith, his younger brother, who lives in Greece, a place that makes Sunderland (and the UK)’s crises seem positively benign. Phil dearly hoped his latest visit home might offer a rousing afternoon at the SoL …
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Certain fish and chip shops in the Wigan area serve a local delicacy that consists of a bread bun cut in two, dipped in the juice from the bubbling mushy peas pan – pea wet as it is rather alarmingly called – with a potato and meat pie between the pieces of bread. Served with a generous portion of chips, it has a fat and carbohydrate content sufficient to fuel Bradley Wiggins over at least half a dozen Alps.
For the first 40 minutes of the match on Saturday, the Wigan players must have wished they’d gone back for seconds as they were forced to chase a slick, efficient, enterprising Sunderland side all over the pea wet green turf of the Stadium of Light. One goal was poor reward. Brave goalkeeping and a dreadful miss from Bardsley had frozen the scoreboard, but we weren’t worried. Second half would be a breeze. |
Steve Bruce looked a broken man on Match of the Day. Some of the abuse lobbed at him, Salut! Sunderland believes, was unacceptable, but it had hit home. To a large degree, of course, he is the author of his present misfortune. Jeremy Robson, hardly a born again convert to the Bruce Out cause, discusses this latest calamitous era of Sunderland’s managerial history …
For followers of this fine club of ours there has been a sorry history of underachievement apart from the two seventh placed finishes under Peter Reid and the solitary FA Cup win in 1973. I watched it again last night and for the very first time experienced the realisation that this was a long time ago.
Pete Sixsmith, with apologies to Bon Jovi (or was it a band called Europe?) for his headline choice, is fed up. From Bardsley’s impersonation of Jonny Wilkinson (can conversions be that high in rugby?) to the kamikaze defending, yesterday was no day for faint hearts; Sixer’s nearly gave up the ghost …
At 4.49 on Saturday, the usually reliable Wes Brown made an elementary error to hand Wigan Athletic their first away win of the season and, in all probability, start the process that brings down the curtain on Steve Bruce’s 30 months in charge at the Stadium of Light.
Brown’s error was inexplicable, on a day that featured hapless central defenders in Wesley, the manager and David Corner, dragged from well deserved obscurity to do the half time draw to applause that was so muted as to be almost sepulchral. However his error at Wembley did not lead to howls of derision coming down from the stands. Brown’s did.
This is where Pete Sixsmith captures the glory and shame, hope and despair, excitement and ennui of the Sunderland matchday …
M Salut flew back to Heathrow from Bali yesterday, having been well fuelled by Air Malaysia throughout the 7,810-mile slog. Blame that (the fuelling) or the jetlag for any aberrations in this latest backward glance, for the busy or technology-defeated reader of Salut! Sunderland, at our recent coverage of …
What has been going on around these parts with M Salut’s back turned?
Many Salut! Sunderland readers will know that Bernard Ramsdale is not only a staunch fan of Wigan Athletic and co-creator of This Northern Soul, an amalgamation of four Latics fan sites. He is also a great friend of this site. Fewer will know of his family tragedy – the devastating injuries suffered by his son Anthony in a road accident in 2007 – and the monumental efforts Bernard and many others make to allow him some enjoyment of life. There were some footballing questions, too, but they didn’t really fit in here so visit a separate posting at this link for Bernard’s thoughts on the match, Wigan’s present predicament and whether Bruce or Martinez have been better for the club. The main slice of this week’s “Who are You?” is given over to the warm, dignified and beautifully written article that follows …
So, how , in an article meant to be all about the vital place of football in our lives, make it seem less important than it really is? The simple answer to that question is that you can’t.
Colin Randall approached me a few weeks ago with this idea. We talked for a while and while I insisted that this particular story will only be told because of my respect for the Salut! Sunderland authors and the kind of supporters they represent, I decided to reveal how football in the grand scheme of things is only a game, but it is indeed still a major player in all our lives. Well, it is in mine anyway.
He alluded to the fact that Wigan Athletic and their wonderful supporters have been very supportive of me and my family through a five year period when you would have thought that football was the last thing on my mind.
No one suspected for a second that beating Wigan Athletic 4-2 at home amounted to a revival. It is not, by itself, even a mini-revival, though another win, at home to Fulham today, would represent one of those.
But it came as a mighty relief nonetheless, perhaps ending any relegation fears.
For a look at what has been happening at Salut! Sunderland, in case you missed any of it, here’s a snapshot of the week. Click on any sub-heading to read more …