salut! sunderland

Sunderland's player(s) of the season

Congratulations to Kenwyne Jones, who capped a terrific season for Sunderland by capturing two player of the the year awards. After easily topping the official club site poll, he was then voted the players' own choice in a training ground ballot.

Danny Collins, who came second in both, enjoyed the huge consolation of being the supporters' selection as player of the season. Such success for an unglamorous footballer who gives total commitment to the club is not surprising; Sunderland fans have always recognised the need for graft and passion along with the flair.

Collins is emphatically not a flair player, but he has the do-or-die spirit - at both ends of the pitch - that we associate with Charlie Hurley, Joe Bolton and Kevin Ball.

  And isn't he glad to be in our stripes now? 
  Picture: iowsaintsfan

Kenwyne, however, won hands down in the safc.com poll, scoring 96,810 votes compared with 36,350 for Danny (20 points being awarded for each first choice recorded, 10 for each second). And for all Collins's heroics, he was the logical victor, since he displayed both guts AND flair, covering acres of ground each game and providing matchwinning goals or assists in several.

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 carried away by his benevolent look at the albumen; there's still the yolk to go......

Many years ago, when the Earth was still young, I was dragged off to either the Essoldo or the Hippodrome in Shildon to see a film called Pollyanna.

I remember being distinctly underwhelmed by this experience seeing as nobody seemed to ride a horse across the plains, asked for a slug of red eye in a dirty glass or shot copious numbers of what were then known as Red Indians.

It appeared to be about a little girl (ugh!) who went round spreading sweetness and light (a little like Amy Winehouse does now) and generally being positive while all around were being gloomy.

So, let’s review the past season through the eyes of a Pollyanna Whittier and look for things to be glad about.

Well, first of all we are still in the Premier League. After the 15 point season, that’s got to be something to feel glad about. We could well be on our way to establishing ourselves as a Premier League fixture like Blackburn, Villa and Middlesbrough.

Soapbox: it's those end of season blues

London has only just voted in its new mayor, and already there is a broken promise. Pete Sixsmith's not Boris's. Having vowed to boycott the capital if it voted for the white-haired one, famously described as "neither as nice nor as stupid as he seems", Sixer is already making plans for a return to Craven Cottage....

And so another season comes to an end, if not with a bang or a whimper at least with a rousing farewell to this year's team.

It seems strange going into the final game with nothing resting on it, but I would not have wanted to be like the Blues of Birmingham or Reading knowing that the whole thing was out of their own control. Been there, done that and got several T-shirts.

So, a pleasant end to the season, with both sides giving lads a run out. Arsenal were good. Their movement was exceptional, their pace at times blistering and their strength in depth impressive. It’s not every day you see the captain of Brazil having “a run out”.

End of term report

Bare necessities

Chained to the work station, I still nurtured hopes of keeping one eye on events at the Stadium of Light.

My younger daughter, out here in Abu Dhabi for a holiday, does not agree with my approach to the season's climax. Despite, shamefully, supporting Liverpool instead of Sunderland and regarding the Lads as only her "second" club, whatever one of those is, she paid little attention to either Spurs v Liverpool or SAFC v Arsenal.

All 10 games were available live at the touch of a remote control button on Showtime channels, but she was glued to the championship and relegation games. "But dad, there was nothing at stake for either Sunderland or Liverpool," she said later.

One of us is clearly missing the point completely.

Of course I am interested in who wins the title - I loathe Chelsea, so that settles that one - and who goes down (Brum's fate doesn't bother me, but I feel a little sad for Reading).

But I would sooner watch any game involving SAFC than any game not involving them. Simple as that. The whole thing is explained in my Club v Country chapter in the ALS book More 24 Hour SAFC People, so no need to repeat it all here (though the link gives you the chapter in full).

Sixer's Sevens

May 11 2008 SAFC 0 v Arsenal 1 Enjoyable, entertaining end to a decent season
May 3 2008 Bolton Wanderers 2 v SAFC 0 Thank goodness we didn't need any points
April 26 2008 SAFC 3 v Middlesbrough 2 Fantastic finale yet again; comfort zone now!
April 20 2008 Newcastle United 2 SAFC 0 Rotten performance in game of abysmal quality
April 12 2008 SAFC 1 Man City 2 Poor performance not helped by ludicrous Riley
April 5, 2008 Fulham 1 v SAFC 3 Great win, now sitting in comfort zone
March 29 2008 SAFC 2 v West Ham 1 Edging closer to safety after great win
March 22, 2008 Aston Villa 0 v SAFC 1 At last: now we can push on
March 15, 2008 SAFC 0 v Chelsea 1 Effort and determination not matched by result
March 9, 2008 SAFC 0 v Everton 1 One lapse of concentration costs us dear
March 1, 2008 Derby County 0 v SAFC 0 Got what we deserved against wretched opposition
Feb 23, 2008 Portsmouth 1 SAFC 0 Saving the away win for Pride Park
Feb 9, 2008 SAFC 2 v Wigan 0 Rode our luck, but Wigan bogey laid
Feb 2, 2008 Liverpool 3 v SAFC 0 Wretched Styles makes it hard for us
Jan 29, 2008 SAFC 2 v Birmingham City 0 Who needs entertainment? We'll take the points
Jan 19, 2008 Tottenham Hotspur 2 SAFC 0 More despair on the road. Getting harder.
Jan 13, 2008 SAFC 2 v Portsmouth 0 Terrific performance which gives us real hope
Jan 5, 2008 SAFC 0 Wigan Athletic 3 (FA Cup 3rd round) Abysmal. Now we can concentrate on relegation
Jan 2, 2008 Blackburn Rovers 1 SAFC 0 Very disappointing result; we should have won
Dec 29, 2007 SAFC 3 Bolton 1 Desperate second half, but winning uglily OK!
Dec 26, 2007 SAFC 0 Man Utd 4 An utterly embarrassing afternoon. Deep worries now
Dec 22, 2007 Reading 2 v SAFC 1 More last minute blues but situation critical
Dec 15, 2007 SAFC 1 Aston Villa 1 Disappointing but never quite enough to win
Dec 8, 2007 Chelsea 2 SAFC 0 Five Live said "No quality". How true!
Dec 1, 2007 SAFC 1 v Derby 0 Two shocking sides but three priceless points
Nov 24, 2007 Everton 7 v SAFC 1 Appalling defending, feeble midfield, Keane under pressure
Nov 10, 2007 SAFC 1 v Newcastle Utd 1 Defensive slip up costs us deserved win
Nov 5, 2007 Manchester City 1 SAFC 0 Tidy, competent but once again no threat
Oct 27, 2007 SAFC 1 Fulham 1 Equaliser fails to cover up alarming cracks
Oct 21, 2007 West Ham 3 SAFC 1 They were there for the taking. Frustrating
Oct 7, 2007 Arsenal 3 SAFC 2 Some pride restored after disastrous first 20
Sept 29, 2007 SAFC 1 Blackburn Rovers 2 Proof that Championship players struggle in Premiership
Sept 22, 2007 Boro 2 SAFC 2 Great equaliser but worrying lack of quality
Sept 15, 2007 SAFC 2 Reading 1 Jones excellent. Great win on emotional day
Sept 1, 2007 Man Utd 1 Sunderland 0 Disciplined, committed but never threatened to score
Aug 28, 2007 Luton 3 Sunderland 0 Didn't expect 0-5 again. But this? Disgraceful
Aug 25, 2007 SAFC 0 Liverpool 2 Plenty of effort but short of quality
Aug 18, 2007 Wigan Athletic 3 SAFC 0 Dreadful defeat brings us down to earth
Aug 15, 2007 Birmingham City 2 SAFC 2 Thoroughly deserved. Chopra's one of us now
Aug 11, 2007 SAFC 1 Tottenham Hotspur 0 Chopra buries the bile with stunning winner

Who are you? We're Arsenal (2)

Salut! Sunderland naturally considered Nick Hornby, Piers Morgan and similar Arsenal glory seekers when it became clear that the last game of the season should have a second Who Are They? Then we remembered that there are a few real supporters, too. Step forward Richard Stickland* - Stickers to his pals, and that's him kneeling far left in the front row of a squad of Gooners before the losing FA Cup final against Liverpool in 2001. He fondly remembers Big Niall as "Snakey-boy", less fondly recalls a Lord Gary Rowell hat-trick at Roker Park and generously, for us, predicts a point apiece on Sunday....

Sunderland to me means long boozy weekends staying with my friends Davey and Julie, who are massive Sunderland fans, at their house in Langley Park.

In fact myself, my brother Roy and our friend Chris have often imposed on their hospitality, for our visits to Newcastle and Middlesbrough as well as for Sunderland matches.

A typical weekend up north would involve driving up on Friday, having a couple of beers and some food before getting a taxi to Durham for an old fashioned pub crawl, which died out in London years ago.

Saturday was usually match day, where we would go to a pub near the Stadium of Light for a couple of liveners before the match. Saturday evening would invariably be spent in the Tap and Spile pub in Framwellgate Moor, for some serious real ale drinking. Sunday morning we would feed our hangovers with huge bacon baps before travelling back down the motorway to London.

One Sunderland game I remember missing. My older brother Jeff announced in 1984 that he was getting married and was trying to sort the date out for the ceremony.

Myself and Roy duly presented him with an Arsenal fixture list with instructions that he must choose a Saturday when Arsenal were away, otherwise he would have two empty seats at the register office.

The date he decided on was March 3 1984 , which coincided with the Sunderland v Arsenal Division One match at Roker Park, which ended in a 2-2 draw. I missed Tony Woodcock's 40-yard goal that day. I hope my brother appreciated my sacrifice.

And now for your questions.....

Some enchanted hearing

It is a site that has a million page views each month and offers 4,000 different football chants. And some of them are ours.

This is a quick note to let readers of Salut! Sunderland know that there is now a link from this site to Fanchants, where you can find listen to SAFC football chants and songs, and download them for Mp3 and ringtone purposes.

Straightforward plug for someone's business? Yes, but also a bit of a service to the supporters who visit Salut! Sunderland AND Fanchants has promised a link back to this site, which could do with a few more readers.

Who are you? We're Arsenal (1)

Last game of the season, so let's get arty with the Who Are They? series. Click on the image and you see a scene from the near future, says James Langton*, the first of Salut! Sunderland's Arsenal guest columnists. Relaxing in one of the standard “pleb class” suites at the newly relocated Emirates Stadium, a group of typically enthusiastic Gooners enjoy watching their side drop two more home points against Middlesborough. Other Premiership scores scroll below on BBC Sports Arabia......

Would I like to write about Sunderland? Of course. One of the great memories. Dying seconds of the 1979 Cup Final. 2-2. Cross from Graham Rix to the far post... Oh. That Sunderland.

(Puts down prawn sandwich and replaces cup of Earl Grey on saucer.)

I was born in Derby, but left for London at the age of six months. A close call there, then. Moved to North London. Taken to a game by my father at the age of seven or so (he was on the Daily Express when it sold four million copies a day). Sp**s at home. Bored silly. Fell over and cut my knee. Had more fun picking off the scab. So that was it really.

1971. Listening to Spurs - Arsenal on the radiogram. Nothing less than a win or goalless draw to snatch the title for the first time since 1953. Last team to do the double were Spurs. A Ray Kennedy header three minutes from time. First leg of the double. At Spurs. Did I mention that?

Five days later. Wembley Stadium. Charlie George in extra time. Flat on his back as the Liverpool defence slumps in despair. My father was asked by the club to write the official history of the season. Arsenal! Arsenal!

Regular visits to the North Bank in the late 70s and 80s. Can’t recall watching Sunderland (not the one with the perm) although the stats suggest the Black Cats were a bit of a bogey team. Perhaps it was divine punishment for signing Malcolm MacDonald.

It’s a shame this final fixture of the season is so shorn of meaning. Imagine a few results turned round the other way. Points picked up instead of thrown away to Birmingham and home to Middlesborough and Villa for us. Take away those last gasp points for you against West Ham, Middlesborough and Villa. 90 minutes to decide both ends of the Premier League. Wouldn’t like to bet on the result.

See you next season....and now for your questions:

Soapbox: the glories of the English countryside

Enjoy Pete Sixsmith's description of England's pastoral pleasures. But be warned. The squeamish are NOT recommended to read on and see what he made of the football at the end of this idyllic odyssey in the spring sunshine....

It's May, there is no pressure on us after last week, the game kicks off at 5.15 and the weather is good. No need to rush to Horwich, just take it easy and enjoy the sights and sounds of England at its best.

Because the coach I usually travel on was booked in for a weekend's hedonism in Blackpool (at my age, hedonism is an extra bottle of beer a night), I drove down to Bolton.

Which route? A1,M62,M61 or A66,M6, M61? Nah, let's take a scenic route. Let's live life in the comfort zone.

Let's go Richmond, Hawes, Ribblehead, Ingleton, Kirby Lonsdale, Lancaster, Chorley, Horwich. Let's cross from magnificent Swaledale to beautiful Wensleydale. Let's admire the wonderful sight of the Ribblehead Viaduct marching across the valley and marvel at its combination of natural beauty and industrial might. Let's make a little detour into Kirby Lonsdale, visit the beer department at Booth's supermarket and stock up on bottles of old favourites and new tastes.

Let's meander around the Trough of Bowland looking for The Fleece at Dolphinholme and if we can't find it (which I didn't), let's not get agitated, let's stop at Galgate, just south of Lancaster and have a pint of Black Sheep, a decent pub meal and an hour sitting in the sunshine watching Galgate seconds playing someone else from the Westmorland League. Let's take a stroll along the canal bank and wave at passing cruisers. Let's have a lovely day.

5573 and all that

So let's forget Saturday's awful display at Bolton and think back 35 years - 35 years today* to be precise - to a day no one associated with Sunderland Association Football Club can ever forget or, if too young to have been around, pretend to be unaware of......

If the reality of being a Sunderland supporter did not bring so much end-of-season suspense and excitement, some of it for the right reasons, we would probably be less happy to celebrate the 35th anniversary of our last major trophy.

Even the London and Southern England branch of the SAFC Supporters' Association voted to change the name of its newsletter from 5573 after younger members began complaining that 1973 was an awful long time ago, and drew attention to our subsequent under-achievement.

Yet a title recalling such a glorious day in our club's history as May 5 1973 seemed a perfectly good one to me, and I was among the minority voting to keep it (though I quickly acknowledged that the new name, Wear Down South, was even better). We didn't just win the FA Cup that day; we earned a place in history for the manner in which we did it, raising our game as an above-average Division two team to overcome mighty, arrogant opponents for whom winning would have seemed like just another day at the office.

Some excellent memories of the day have cropped up in the Celebrity Supporters series of Salut! Sunderland.

Melanie Hill (actress, whose triumphs include Bread, Brassed Off, When Saturday Comes)

Melanie's best SAFC moment came after the family moved briefly to Kent. Now 5573 is a collection of numbers that might strike a chord with a few supporters. Melanie's May 5 1973 was spent at home in Gillingham watching Sunderland 1 Leeds Utd 0 on the box as her mother went off to meet Uncle David, who had got her a ticket. "I can still see her that evening, staggering down the street half-cut in the red PVC coat she'd bought specially for the cup final, and carrying a fake cup and a flag. Goodness knows what the neighbours thought. They wouldn't have understood, but even now I love to think of it...it's so brilliant to have a memory like that of your mother."

Denise Roberston (agony aunt, author)

She remembers sitting up all night knitting scarves for the boys to wear when the FA Cup was brought home in 1973. All that red and white wool? Not quite. The shops had been bled dry of red, and she had to make do with orange. “Terrible stuff,” she admits.

Steve Cram (superb distance runner who set world records for the mile, 1,500 metres and 2,000 metres; also president of SAFCSA London branch)

Steve’s own childhood memories include the 1973 Cup Final and afterwards, when the players took it in turns to visit clubs to show off the trophy.
Wherever they went, they were plied with as much drink as they wanted. Let us just say that when the roadshow reached Hebburn Labour Club, the two players in charge of the cup had such an enjoyable time that the police took it into safe custody over night.
Pc Cram was on night shift. When he got home, he roused young Steve and his younger brother Kevin - who sadly died in a fall, aged just 39, while out running very soon after our conversation - whisked them off to the station to be photographed holding the trophy.
“I was about 12,” Steve, pictured on the left, recalled. “It made me realise I’d love to be a top sportsman, even if I wasn’t good enough to do it at football.”

Alan Price (pop, blues and jazz musician who topped the charts with the Animals)

Since leaving the North East, Alan has seen only occasional Sunderland games. He flew back from working in Los Angeles for the 1973 FA Cup Final. To most people, it was a fairytale, but Alan had predicted the outcome. On TV with Jack Charlton, he'd said we would win 1-0 while Jackie insisted that we had no chance.

That night, at the West End victory banquet, Shack and Jackie Milburn danced (with their wives, not each other; Shack would surely not have invited a Mag on to the floor) as Alan sang his heart out for the Lads.
Later, he rang his brother. John, sadly no longer with us, who had watched the game nervously at home. "You know," he told Alan, "my behind was nipping the buttons off the sofa." Hands up those WDS readers who practicised their own button-nipping technique as they read that.