Pete Sixsmith resolved to report loyally to Salut! Sunderland from his armchair view of Sporting Lisbon v SAFC. He ended up missing the second and third Sunderland goals, two sendings off and heaven knows what else. What went wrong? Two days on, he was still feeling the effects of a vigorous bout of pre-season drinking […]
Soapbox: a new term starts
Mid-July and still the only news on the BBC football website is that West Ham have turned down our offer for George McCartney, an offer many times higher than we got when he went there. We all know big, exciting signings are on the way. Don’t we? Don’t necessarily hold your breath, sighs Pete Sixsmith, […]
Soapbox: almost as good as football
Anyone for cricket? Well, what about Rugby League? Or, of course, tennis? In the almost complete absence of football, Pete Sixsmith was game for most things sportive… The beginning of July sees the end of the close season and it means that football can start again. It has to mix in with other sports and […]
Soapbox: the smell of the liniment , the roar of the crowd
Euro 2008 is behind us, Wimbledon’s into its last couple of days and…….the season tickets are being sent out. Pete Sixsmith looks back on a lifetime of SAFC worship which this year, as in others, he extends to pre-season friendlies…. You know the close season is over when the season ticket books arrive. Mine came […]
Soapbox: no Euro 2008 Oscars, so feast on the Sixies
Absent from the North East, missing from Euro 2008, Salut! Sunderland is lucky to have Pete Sixsmith to turn to back home. And Pete’s wit and wisdom have been spotted far beyond Coutny Durham; his delicious teacher’s advice* to the geographically and historically challenged David Pleat, already hailed by Shane Breslin of the Irish eleven-a-side […]
Soapbox: the Russians were coming
Pete Sixsmith marvelled, as I did, at the speed and magical fluency of the Spanish team in making a second-half mockery of all the good things said about the Russians. You need only read what follows to see that Pete was rather looking forward to a Russia v Germany final, but the defeat did nothing […]
Soapbox: Euros giving value for money
Even if you did not read my Club v Country: an easy home win chapter in the ALS book More 24 Hour SAFC People, you probably know that Salut! Sunderland is rarely found devoting too much space to football at international level. Since I am currently based in Abu Dhabi, I care more about the […]
Soapbox: looking at the Euros
Salut! Sunderland, during Euro 2008, has been a bit like the Circular, the No 5 United bus that used to – still? – slog all over Shildon on a roundabout route towards Bishop: you wait for ages for one, then two come at the same time. With the football focus switching to internationals, it has […]
Soapbox: season 2007-08 (2)..and the negatives
If you were up and about early, you may have seen Salut! Sunderland as a work in progress as I edited Pete Sixsmith’s new Soapbox offering live Scroll down and, if your eyesight is good and your mouse control true, you’ll see that in an article for the Irish Mail on Sunday, published the day […]
Soapbox: season 2007-08 (1)..the positive side.
Most of us know the story of the curate’s egg*. Eager not to offend after being invited to breakfast by the bishop and served a bad egg, he insisted that that it was good in parts. That’s roughly as Pete Sixsmith found the season just ended. Keano and the Lads should perhaps not get too […]
Sunderland’s headlong fall and the unconditional love that makes us keep faith
Monsieur Salut, aka Colin Randall, writes: in my brief time in Abu Dhabi, I saw more of Sunderland live than […]