Wolverhampton Wanderers

Wolves v SAFC: (1) McCarthy Out too, says voice of youth

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Oliver Graves

The season before last, Salut! Sunderland dedicated a “Who are You?” feature for one of the games against Wolves to David Graves, a great friend and colleague of M Salut’s who died in a diving accident in 2002. Today, in the first of two Wolves “Who are You?”s, David’s sons Oliver and Nathan* – who have kept the Wolfie roar loud and clear in the Graves household – jointly handle the customary pre-match questionnaire, making them the youngest supporters to take part in the series. The questions were set and answered before Steve Bruce’s dismissal but the boys made clear their disenchantment with another manager with SAFC connections …


Tomorrow: the Wolfie who hasn’t missed a game in 35 years …

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Salut!’s week: Arsenal honours, Barca barbs, Liverpool chancers, Sunderland ratings

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Mrs Logic

As mentioned here last Saturday, there may be no need for weekly digests throughout the close season, when good people ought to be turning their thoughts to holidays, picnics and Durham County Cricket Club (top of the league when last I checked).

But this has been an unusually busy week, more so than many during the football season.

We concluded a great set of end-of-season reviews, eight well-argued verdicts on what it was like to be a Sunderland supporter in 2010-2011.

There were the “Who are You?” awards to dispense – Arsenal the winners – plus musings on North-eastern footballing allegiances, Liverpool’s reported bid to lure Jordan Henderson to Anfield, one last look at the game in France … and the demolition of Manchester United by Barcelona. As always, click on the sub-heading if it makes you want to read more …

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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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Soapbox: Wolves howling with delight

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Pete Sixsmith wandered gloomily away from the Stadium of Light after another mugging. He was trying hard to be philosophical. Overhearing two other Sunderland supporters moaning loudly about what they had just witnessed, he mildly suggested there may have been positives. Read on, and deep, for the priceless retort …

Another home defeat after another second half collapse and another opportunity wasted to move up the league and claim the “Best Side In the North East” title. There’s not a whole lot to write about to be honest.

Started well, could have scored three before slack marking gave Jody Craddock the opener. Our midfield players get into good positions and then miss the target on a regular basis.

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Steve Bruce on being devoured by Wolves: and a sharp riposte

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“If the season had gone on a couple of games more . ..” said a sports editor of my acquaintance. We can all fill in the rest. Otherwise, words fail me just now. I didn’t expect to ease to victory but nor did I think we’d put in a second half display worthy of the humbling nature of yet another dire home defeat. Let Steve Bruce do the explaining, and then let one the recipients of these messages respond …I’m going out for the day

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Sixer’s Sevens: SAFC 1 Wolves 3

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pete2

Starting with the last home game of the season, yet another dispiriting defeat, these are the most recent of Pete Sixsmith‘s incisive seven-word verdicts capturing the essence of just about every game. He hummed and harred between verdicts reflecting our sloppy defending and Mike Jones’s denial of an apparently clear penalty at 1-2, and finally decided that Wolves fought for it more. When, rarely, Pete is absent, a supersub does it for him. There will be no immediate post-match report, though Pete’s full analysis will appear within the next couple of days.

The full Sixer’s Sevens archive – see link below – encapsulates the matchday experiences, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, of a fan who is usually there …

May 14 2011 SAFC (1) 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers (1) 3 … We ran out of steam; Wolves didn’t

May 7 2011 Bolton Wanderers (0) 1 SAFC (1) 2 Great result, strong performance and safety assured

April 30 2011 SAFC (0) 0 Fulham (1) 3 No forwards, creaky defence, hurry up summer

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SAFC 1 Wolves 3: dismal end, cheers to Jody

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All that needed to be said about our respect for Wolves has been said here – and especially here. This was not the way we wanted our own season, in terms of the home games, to end. Happy for them, sad about our own failure to perform …

If all this week’s goodwill from Salut! Sunderland towards Mick McCarthy and Wolverhampton Wanderers had to lead to such a bitterly disappointing defeat, then we can at least be happy that it was Jody Craddock who set them on the way.

Steve Bruce claimed he had only 12 senior players fit to train this week and that has to be taken into consideration.

But this is a game we should have WALTZED!

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Salut!’s week: relief at Bolton, revenge for Chamakh, respect for Wolves

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Salut! Sunderland looks forward in all senses to the last home game of the season, when we expect no slacking despite our affection for Wolverhampton Wanderers and our desire for them to stay up (though 5-2 again would be rubbing it in; 1-0 will do). And we look back over a week that started well. This is the weekly digest of Salut! Sunderland‘s efforts to inform, amuse and inspire …

For once – well, twice or three times in the past four months – we began the week in happy frame of mind.

The last-gasp winner at Bolton was exactly what the doctor ordered and given Sunderland’s appalling run not only of form but of luck, we need apologise to no one about the merits or otherwise, as described by Owen Coyne, of those three priceless points.

There was plenty to read here about that match. And there was, as usual, more to get stuck into as the week went on. Click on the sub-heading for any item that appeals if you want to read more or read again.

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For David Graves: another reason to want Wolves to stay up

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Tomorrow, nearly nine years after he died an avoidable death, David Graves‘s spirit will be willing his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers to victory at the Stadium of Light. David was a globetrotting reporter and a great colleague and friend. I imagine him in some far-off, dusty and maybe dangerous spot, fiddling with the internet links he seemed able to find even all those years ago. David would not have expected me to want Wolves to win today, and I do not.

But in his honour, and thinking very much of his wife Diana and their two boys Oliver and Nathan, Wolfies all, I hope very much that other results go for them and that they clinch survival on the final day. The following, reproduction of which has been inspired by the friendship shown by so many Wolves supporters this week and in the past, originally appeared at another of my websites, Salut!, on the fifth anniversary of his death …

Every so often, you still hear that extravagant, rising laugh of his.

You imagine him back in the old Telegraph newsroom. There, he’d be approaching each task with customary professionalism. If things were quiet, he’d be wandering from desk to desk showing quizzical interest in what others were up to.

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Back to the Predictor: bad news for Wolves

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You read it here first that we were safe. At least, according to the BBC Predictor that Pete Sixsmith had been playing with. We still had to make his predicted results come true and did better than that by winnng at Bolton and not just drawing. But what about Wolves, tomorrow’s opponents? They’ve generated lots of nice thoughts by liking us as we like them, but Pete fears the worst …

I was back on the Predictor again this week after the latest batch of games. I tried to gauge the mood of a club as well as its current form and its desire and need to stay in the Premier League.

After a much improved performance at The Reebok last weekend, I am much more optimistic than I was the last time I did it. I now have us drawing with Wolves and winning at West Ham and that will have us finishing an eye watering eighth, three points above the Mags and six points away from Villa and Darren B£nt.

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