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Salut! Guests April 25, 2012

Running for glory on Fulham matchday

The bad news, if you find yourself in the Sunderland end at Craven Cottage for our final away game of the season on May 6, is that the man next to you will have just run a half-marathon. The good? Nic Wiseman, esteemed former editor of the fanzine It’s The Hope I Can’t Stand fanzine, [...]

Odd likes and dislikes: cheering Brentford, loathing Tranmere, respecting Charlton

(‘The stripes help’: Image by Yellow Book) Which football teams you have a soft spot for, and which you would cheerfully consign to oblivion, is not driven by rocket science. It could be as simple as a long remembered favour or slight. Ask John McCormick*: he should know …

1: Sunderland 2: Newcastle United 3: Middlesbrough – could we live with that?

That was not quite how David Athey* had the running order. David is Monsieur Salut’s cousin and a lifelong Newcastle supporter. He’s all for passionate rivalry but the pipe dream suggested in the headline (once re-arranged to suit his tastes) reflects a deeper view, that the North East looks a little sad when those passions [...]

Sweeney’s Cut: is Arsène Wenger the new Bruce?

Monsieur Salut is an unashamed admirer of Arsène Wenger’s. But Eric Sweeney, an occasional additional voice at Salut! Sunderland, combines appreciation for the job Martin O’Neill is doing at Sunderland with serious misgivings about yesterday’s once-mighty opposition …

Another Sunderland young blood tastes glory as Wimbledon defeat Macclesfield

Hot on the heels of our Sixer’s dispatches from Sunderland’s reserve games, Ian Todd, co-founder and mainstay of the London and SE branch of the SAFCSA, reports on a man-of-the-match outing for one of our loaned players, Billy Knott. Here, Knott knitted together, are Ian’s comments and a couple of others … Couldn’t be much [...]

Do they mean us? A fine Swansea report of the game

If you have come here expecting to see Pete Sixsmith’s report, you will have to be patient. That will appear tomorrow. First, let’s hear from another Pete – Peter Thomas, Swansea supporter and writer of the estimable Pierre91 in a Day blog. This is how he saw it; a fair, greatly detailed analysis from a [...]

Sweeney’s Cut: how Martin O’Neill is eliminating cynicism

A bit early for a mid-term report on Martin O’Neill, but these are potentially exciting times for Sunderland supporters who suddenly see their team written and spoken about in glowing terms, even in defeat, by the Londoncentric media. Eric Sweeney sees further progress ahead and, unlike M Salut, believes MON when he says he hasn’t [...]

RIP Podgy, a true stalwart of Sunderland, Durham CCC, the Barmy Army

It is not often that something that needs an airing here appears first at the Salut! Sunderland Facebook page (you can join the group by following this link). This is an exception and one that deserves a wider audience. Posted from Cancun, Mexico as M Salut’s holiday nears its end, here is the mini-tribute by [...]

Martin O’Neill, the burden of expectation – and Sixer’s dark thoughts at Wolves

Eric Sweeney** avoids over-excitement in a cool look at what the new era of Martin O’Neill means for him and the club. And study the now famous image of a green-hatted Pete Sixsmith at Molineux before entering a jolly little competition (see below*) …

All Greek to me: Wigan disaster as seen by another Sixsmith

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. [...]