Salut! Sunderland did it once before when Alan Shearer turned from hate figure to closet supporter, pointing out (on Match of the Day) dreadful refereeing howlers that cost us points. Let’s do it again

Roy Keane: an apology

In common with 40,000-odd other Sunderland supporters, Salut! Sunderland may have inadvertently given the impression that Roy Keane had lost the plot, that relegation was inevitable and that SAFC players were overpaid little oiks incapable of stringing together one win in a row.

Tonight, we are happy to confirm that this is not and has never been a true representation of our views.

But in case anything written here has led anyone to believe that we thought Sunderland were a woeful side managed by a man whose laid-back approach to the transfer window made us certainties for the drop, let us now put the record straight.

In fact, Sunderland AFC are – as they always have been – the greatest football team in the whole world. We have now won two league games in a row at home, and kept a clean sheet. We can even rejoice at being out of the FA Cup, and therefore free to concentrate on the Premiership, and forget the manner in which we made our exit.

So sorry Roy. Sorry Kieran. Sorry Craig. Sorry everyone else.

WE ARE STAYING UP. What greater joy can there be?

ps Living in Abu Dhabi means that while I cannot use my season ticket, I can see every game live. Isn’t it totally Sod’s Law that after watching the hard luck defeats againt West Ham and Man City, and the hard luck draws against Aston Villa and Newcastle, among other ordeals, I had to work today instead of seeing us win in style?

** Picture courtesy of our friends at A Love Supreme