The Ithics Files: (4) Manchester United and the fairer sex



If anyone out there thinks we’re overdoing the Ithics Files – reproduction at Salut! Sunderland of gems from It’s The Hope I Can’t Stand – then they should tell SAFC to get a move on with meaningful news.

Sum total from the week gone by? A bare-bones announcement on Wednesday about terms being agreed with Seb Larsson and Keiren Westwood; this is surely transfer management at its most uncommunicative.

We have no problem with that provided the cautious approach either produces results or saves us buying a 2012 version of Milton Nunez. But since Salut! Sunderland is broadly steering clear of the wilder reaches of rumour and gossip (one of today’s “news” stories has Steve Bruce concentrating on loan deals; another says he’s out for high-profile purchases), it seems as good a time as any to keep the series going.

Anna Shorrocks’s connection with a Sunderland fanzine back in March 1998 is not explained.

She is, after all, a Manchester United supporter – stop smirking, she’s genuinely a product of that North-west Midlands city – so we must presume she was a friend or colleague of one of the Ithics mob.

And in our constant quest to encourage more Mackemoiselles to write for Salut! Sunderland , it perhaps does no harm to bring Anna’s description of her footballing passion to a new or wider audience.

The headline is not intended to suggest that intimate relations tend to be of a more reasonable nature in and around Old Traffford. Rather, the points Anna makes in her article – click and, if necessary, click again on the page image for a legible view – will sound familair to many female SAFC supporters.

If we guess correctly from internet clues, Anna is now a senior consultant with the Little Black Book recruitment consultancy, having worked for the BBC after graduation before moving back to her native Manchester.

Since that sounds rather grand, we can safely assume she has become part of Roy Keane’s prawn sandwich brigade, even if no one has ever got close to offering a convincing reason to show why Keano equated such food with posh, moneyed, ever-so-silent occupants of expensive seats and executive boxes.

* And just to prove this is still a Sunderland site, albeit with frequent sorties into the broader world of football, the bonus page to the left of Anna’s article is a chunk of a spoof Peter Reid diary in which the Ithics imagination was let loose on the philosophy and profanity of our former manager.

Monsieur Salut

5 thoughts on “The Ithics Files: (4) Manchester United and the fairer sex”

  1. An update!!

    He stayed in Dubai for the night while the rest of the U23 squad flew back to Korea. From there, he’s flying to England and staying in Sunderland until June 30. After his medical, he needs to fly back to Korea as per the Home Office’s work permit rules. So he’s going to have his farewell match on July 3rd. And afterwards, he’s moving to Sunderland.

    (Information from “Hodori” on RTG)

  2. salutsunderland said “But the case of the S Korean Ji Dong-won is among those where I feel a little more openness would do no harm to any considerations of contract or etiquette”

    Maybe, the silence from the club could be explained by the fact that he has yet to undergo a medical and actually sign!

    To the best of my knowledge he is still in the Middle East where he was involved in an Olympics qualifying game against Jordan on Thursday.

  3. I agree on the striker. And as I said above, the club’s discretion, though probably excessive, doesn’t worry me too much and may have some justification. But the case of the S Korean Ji Dong-won is among those where I feel a little more openness would do no harm to any considerations of contract or etiquette, and would make supporters feel their natural curiosity was considered healthy and beneficial. The player has said he’s coming, his club has said he’s been sold to us, safc.com has it both ways by reporting such stuff while saying nowt official. That seems to me to be in a very different league to the reports that Ngog is demanding wages we don’t want to pay, ManU player/s may be unsure we’re big enough or the Ipswich kid allegedly hankers more after life as a Liverpool/Arsenal benchwarmer – all of which safc is absolutely right to make no comment on

  4. I think the S’land management team have not been able to give more than a “bare bones” announcement since Seb Larsson still actually hasn’t signed yet, – he will do so on 1st July. It might well be club etiquette to respect that until his contract officially runs out at B’ham.
    I’m wondering what big name striker they’re going to bring in. Thats what interests me.

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