Monsieur Salut writes: had I been able to make it – up for me, from London – for Chris Coleman’s first game in charge, I would have met up with not only Peter Sixsmith but Rob Hutchison and his daughter Olivia, all three familiar figures around these parts. My apologies for absence reached the Hutchisons […]
Hutch’s Patch: the despair of one boy’s plea to Moyes after Chelsea

Rob Hutchison is not always restricted to one-word, one-mark ratings after games he’s (mostly) seen us lose. Scenes at Stamford Bridge after Sunday’s thrashing caught his eye … (more…)
Hutch’s Patch post-Chelsea: ‘culpable, fragile, tragic’ – match the words and players

Rob Hutchison – inexplicably renamed Ron when this first appeared – gets to lots of games, almost all of them away since he’s exiled in the south. He and his daughter, Olivia, enjoy the day out, like meeting up with old and new friends and then – for the most part – endure the football. […]
Hutch’s Patch: one-word ratings from Watford make for grim reading

Rob Hutchison might have picked a better day to resume his one-word ratings, usually from away games since they are the ones he mostly attends. His verdicts – one word, one mark out of 10 – closely follow those of Monsieur Salut (for ESPN) … (more…)
Hutch’s Patch: Crystal Palace – big in Saigon

******* CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO ENLARGE FOR A CLEARER VIEW ******* Rob Hutchison, as most of us know, is a man of relatively few words. His one-word, one-mark ratings after each Sunderland game he attends (mostly the aways) can be caustic and cruel, or more rarely ecstatic and […]
Rob’s one word ratings. Who got a 4?

Rob Hutchison recovered from the London Branch 50th birthday party and then found something else to celebrate. Here are his one-word ratings from the Palace match (or mismatch if you like). They’re a bit better than those we’ve become accustomed to and doesn’t it feel good that they are so well merited? (more…)
Devil’s Advocate: Ndong in Gabon and a few home truths

Malcolm Dawson writes…….Rob Hutchison is a man of few words when sending us his post match ratings but every now and then he expands his thinking and tackles the issues that we might bounce about in the pub over a few bevvies. Today in the latest of his offerings where he plays devil’s advocate, he […]
Bournemouth banter: (2) just one win but already part of Sunderland folklore

use this e-mail address Bournemouth away was an occasion to remind supporters of Sunderland AFC, from nippers to long-in-the-tooth codgers, why they care so much about football. And this lovely piece from Rob Hutchison, the perfect complement to an excellent Chapman Report, captures our part of a special day … “Which is the away end […]
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 […]