Paul McMillan would call it an abuse of executive power. To me, it was a routine exchange between newspaper pros. Dec 4 2008, as all Sunderland fans know and Newcastle fans pretend to have forgotten, was the eve of a momentous occasion: the 100th anniversary of our 9-1 win at St James’ Park in what was a Toon championship season.
I had written a restrained, objective piece about the centenary for the sports pages of The National, and was second into the office that morning. Paul, who works for the online edition, was first. Noticing that my article seemed to be nowhere on The National’s website, I made my first decision of the day and asked Paul to put it there. My request, of course, had no more to do with partisan sentiment than his compliance smacked of cap-doffing by a downtrodden worker. I acted for the greater good of the paper.
And in time, whatever he felt, Paul forgave me. When I asked him to write about the coming weekend’s Tyne-Wear derby, he agreed like a shot. It was his chance for revenge.
You saw the first instalment here; here’s the second, his answers to our questions……

What on earth do you make of events at St James’ Park this season? Fun for Sunderland, a mystery to neutrals, but must be humiliating for Mags…

Watching Newcastle has always been compared to a soap opera. But this season we’ve been more Crossroads than Coronation Street.

It’s been clueless from top to bottom.
I did not have high hopes at the start of the season and have had to lower my expectations with almost every game. For the first since we came into the Premier League I would be happy with a 17th place finish.
I think appointing a headstrong manager like Keegan and then, effectively, making him a puppet while Dennis Wise buys players was idiotic to the extreme. We are now stuck with a squad of players who are not motivated on the pitch or trying to move on.
I welcomed the appointment of Joe Kinnear – as a stopgap – but it’s not looking as good now with the transfer window about to close and (at the time of writing) no signings to get excited about.
In fact, it sums up our season that Kinnear was appointed to steady the ship but instead rocked the boat with an impressive 52 expletives in his first press conference.
Personally, I think he could have increased the transfer kitty by releasing a festive cover of John Cooper Clarke’s spoken-word classic Evidently Chickentown” (look it up on YouTube).

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Courage or folly?
Picture: dgolfrabbit

Let’s face it it. It doesn’t get much better as a Sunderland football fan. We’ve raced away with promotion championships, got to playoff deciders, played Norwich and Liverpool in Wembley cup finals, stormed into a 4-0 half-time lead against Chelsea…..but beating the Mags 2-1 in successive seasons at St James’ Park brought ecstasy into our lives. Here, repeated from the earlier days of Salut! Sunderland, is one of the stories from one of those games..

PART 2 OF THE MAGS WHO ARE THEY? APPEARS HERE FROM FRIDAY NOON (UK TIME)

The story ends at St James’ Park, at the second of those 2-1 wins. Or rather afterwards in Fenwick’s.

But it begins on a Club Med holiday in Corfu, where Big Jim and I first met when. Standing in a queue for something or other, we discovered that we shared a surname. With this flimsy excuse for friendship, we met up a few times for drinks or tennis – Jim being as wide as he’s tall and therefore useful at the net.

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In that wonderful, heartwarming world of bonhomie and banter that is football, the Tyne-Wear derby (yes, I know that reverses the natural order of things, but it is an away game) occupies a special place. Mackems and Geordies may say they loathe one another, but that does not really do justice to the true nature of the relationship.
Loathe, when all is said and done, is just too weak a word. For some.
Other side of the coin? Salut! Sunderland seems to have little trouble finding Mags willing to penetrate enemy territory to the extent of writing for us with enthusiasm and flair – and for nowt – about such games.
We prefer to ask ordinary fans, and cannot always get the big names anyway; Joe Kinnear might have seemed an obvious choice, given the warmth of his feelings for gentlemen of the press, but a spokesman for the Queen’s English Society, which these days represents him, said: “He’s too *&#ing busy, you ^*+$ing c*!#.” Mike Ashley felt we’d misquoted him last time he did it.
So we turned to Paul McMillan*, a good bloke and fellow hack in Abu Dhabi. We saw it as our contribution to the principle of offering care in the community; the poor lad had scorned a glorious boyhood opportunity, growing up in Washington but taking his allegiance across the Tyne on board the Bryan Ferry.
Paul repaid our kindness with the following heap of venom….

Among the unwanted socks, smellies and chocolates I received as Christmas gifts last year was the surprise stocking filler Geordies vs. Mackems: Why Tyneside is better than Wearside by Ian Black.

The book contains a series of jokes, anecdotes and one-liners at the expense of “The Great Unwashed” such as:

Q: What’s the first question in a Sunderland pub quiz?
A: “What are you looking at?”

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Pete Sixsmith is not getting carried away. Why should it be otherwise? We narrowly beat a limited Fulham side and, though we could have doubled or tripled the margin, we could also have drawn or lost had they made more of the two or three glaring lapses of concentration at the back. Our distribution in the first half was woeful. BUT WE WON, and Pete – whose half-time verdict was “turgid” – is content. But if you were among the idiots booing Paul McShane, even when he’d kicked the ball, prepare yourself for a well deserved scolding from teacher…..

PART 1 OF OUR TYNE-WEAR DERBY PREVIEW
APPEARS TONIGHT

To paraphrase Robbie Burns, who was 250 (sort of) on Sunday, all wins are important and this one was a win of such importance that the Bard of Ayrshire (Burns, not the ubiquitous John Penman) may well have been tempted to write a paen in praise of Kenwyne’s lightning fast reactions as he pounced on Schwarzer’s parry to win the game for us.

He didn’t do a great deal more, but I do think that some people expect far too much of him.

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Pete Sixsmith is down in the dumps. Instead of being comfortably placed in the league and awaiting an easy passage into the quarter finals (home to Coventry), we look shaky going into the next two Premier games, unlikely to overcome Blackburn in the cup and facing the loss of a defender Pete describes as “an excellent player with a good touch and a lovely feel for the ball”. But hey, we’ll keep Kenwyne, beat Fulham and the Mags, buy well before the window closes and steam forward towards the FA Cup semis. Won’t we?

Selwyn Frogget, a comedy character of the 1970s played by Bill Maynard, had a catchphrase: “Magic our Maurice.” And he stuck his two thumbs up to signify that something was good.

ITV and Setanta have used the phrase Magic to describe the FA Cup as many times as Selwyn did – and like that not much lamented sitcom, they are failing to pull in the viewers.

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Fulham vs Sunderland mosaic
by… JonHall

As we approach Tuesday’s vital return to Premier football, Fulham have a clear psychological advantage. While we pottered to a dull 0-0 draw with Blackburn, with them having the better chances and both of us now facing our fifth encounter of season, Fulham won a place in the 5th round, albeit by beating modest opposition in the form of Kettering Town.
They’re also rather higher than us in the league, even though just about everyone who saw the first game between us, at Craven Cottage, seems to agree that we were by far the better side and should have won.
Strange club, Fulham. When Salut! Sunderland can actually find a Fulham fan to preview a game, we get great stuff; witness Joe Jenkins’s piece ahead of that first game and Steve Battams‘s offering last season. But it has been a long search for anyone to have a go before Tuesday (though we did have a promise of photographs from Jon Hall, who will be among what will surely be a tiny band of away fans making the trip).
There was silence from Vital Fulham, although the Vital network had produced good responses for both the Villa and Blackburn games, and other approaches drew a blank. So was it a bit of a collective “BOG OFF MACKEM!”, to quote one Fulham soul, “Al Billy”, in his reply to a similar request last October for a witty or wise Fulham fan to write here?
Not quite. Fortunately, Steve Battams* – who chalked up 550 games in his own semi-pro playing career, Staines Town, Ashford Town and Carshalton Athletic – was willing to stand in as supersub and return to these pages with his updated thoughts. Steve likes our front two – let’s hope they still ARE our front two when the transfer window closes – thinks we’ll stay up and would settle for a draw on Tuesday. Over to him…..

Salut!….Looks from here as if Fulham are having a better season than most would have expected. Does that sum up how you feel?

Steve… Pretty much, although the way we played our way out of trouble last season under exceptional pressure gave me hope for the start of this campaign. It is clear that Roy Hodgson is an experienced coach who gets the best out of the players available to him and I hope this continues.

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One win, one draw, one defeat. The nature of the FA Cup means that one of us, Sunderland or Blackburn Rovers, must finish on top following our quartet or quartet+replay of clashes this season. Glen Mullan*, seen above with a lady he’ll forgive us for calling very much the better half, is as Rovers as they come, Blackburn born and totally committed to his club. He suspects Saturday will produce a winner: a 1-0 victory, but for whom he isn’t sure. In truth, we all probably want a great cup run, but most of us – maybe all – want Premier football even more.
Glen, who posts at Vital Blackburn Rovers, part of the Vital Football Network but also enjoys trawling the sites of other clubs’ fans, offers a vision of Newcastle tumbling through the leagues – pause for expressions of sadness all round – and explains why, despite his implacable allegiance Rovers, a strict view on home town support condemns his sons to follow another team……

Sunderland yet again – fourth game, three of them away (for you). Can you face yet another gone against us?

A bit sick of playing Sunderland; had you a few times in cup in recent years. Rovers have a very good record against all the North-eastern clubs especially away from home. I’m sure this will be a tight game and I’m not expecting a classic.

Football romantics wanted Sunderland v Blyth but they might settle for either of us winning the cup. What chances either club?

Both clubs, like anyone, have a chance in the cup this year, I think a lot depends on the kindness of the draw. Once you get through to the quarter final stage in recent years the cup draw has opened up nicely for the so-called smaller clubs. An example of this is the all-Premiership ties in the earlier rounds, which allows lower division clubs the opportunity to progress. At the quarter-final stage these are the type of teams you want to be drawn against knowing a victory will put you one match away from Wembley.

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Salut! Sunderland has a duty to find something to say beyond the thoughts of Blackburn Rovers fans, welcome as they are. With Big Sam ushering them disarmingly up the table, Pete Sixsmith considers our current predicament, and offers his predictions on the way the season will proceed for the North East’s Premier clubs…

Yesterday was supposed to be the gloomiest day of the year: you know, the one when the Visa and MasterCard statements appear and you begin to realise how much you actually spent at Christmas. I mean, did you really need that gold plated golf ball holder and was it really such a good idea to buy that lingerie set for your mum?

It was a gloomy day in the North East as the snow tried to fall and the rain pelted down. Moods were not improved by looking at the newspapers which reported on three crushing defeats for the Big 3 and the distinct possibility that all three could be playing Championship football next season.

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FA Cup fever mounting? Dreams of another trip to Wembley suddenly jostling relegation nightmares out of focus? It would be nice to think this could be to be our year – provided we also claw our way beyond mere safety to midtable comfort.

But before we get on to Salut! Sunderland‘s own Blackburn Rovers fan Glen Mullan, this week’s very welcome Who Are They? candidate, let us cast minds back to the early 1980s and the village of Whalley. Our guide is Murray “Muzzer” Walker, of whom more in what Lancashire folk may call afore lung.

Eight miles or so from Ewood Park, Whalley is a place described at Wikipedia as a “large village in the Ribble Valley on the banks of the River Calder..overlooked by Whalley Nab, a large picturesque wooded hill over the river”.

It is famous for having a village cricket team that has played against England. and for hosting the first Roses match (Wikipedia felt the need to add that this would have been between Lancashire and Yorkshire).

On that Saturday a quarter of a century ago, a double-decker bus trundled into the village, which is also famous – locally at least – for being split fairly equally between Blackburn and Burnley fans.

The occupants of the bus were a lively bunch of Sunderland fans who had just crossed the Pennines and were heading for the match.

First, though, they wanted to sample the delights of Whalley: not to take in the pleasing view of the hill, nor to pay homage to sporting history, but to guzzle a drop of ale in at least one of the village’s four pubs.

That day, recalls Murray Walker, pictured above, a tradition was born. “Aye, them were t’days,” he says, or summat like it any road.

Whalley lad made good, not as the motor racing commentator but as sports editor of The National in Abu Dhabi, Murray is Rovers to the core.

He says the unexpected visit from Mackems, “all great lads, a change from the Boro fans who’d caused some bother at Ewood a few weeks earlier”, led to a sort of town twinning agreement. SAFC fans would stay over in Whalley for a game, Rovers fan would be put up in the North East when Blackburn visited Roker Park.

He might have added: ‘Ah could swig a pint of whoam-brewed an’ ger a lung poo. Ah towd ‘im Ah’d appen find one afore lung. Appetite! Ah con eight a ‘orse’s yed awf. Six shieves o’ bread wi’ cheese fer mi jack-bit.” But he didn’t; that was taken from “A Lancashire letter”, circa 1951.

Some Salut! Sunderland readers may have been on that first bus and have memories of their own. One or two diehard Rovers fans in the crowd on Saturday – no, we are not suggesting the away support will be in single figures – may have taken part in the return trips

Not our Glen. He’s only 30 now so would have needed to be an especially precocious drinker to have taken part in the exchanges before they petered out.

But in a season when we seem to have played virtually no one but Blackburn, he kindly stepped forward to do the honours for yet another Rovers edition of the series.

We found him at Vital Blackburn Rovers, his branch of the Vital Football Network, which produced last week’s exchanges with Villa fans.

His fascinating answers to our questions reveal him to be a passionate Rovers fan with a heartwarming view of may become of Newcastle United. Come back tomorrow and all will be revealed….

* Photograph of Whalley Nab (top) adapted from an image by Chris Sheldon posted at Picasaweb. If anyone knows Chris, please let him know a home was found for it here.

If the sign of a successful team is to play badly and win, then Aston Villa look like becoming Premier League champions. Pete Sixsmith reports on a frustrating afternoon and gives his view on those refereeing decisions

If there were a competition to find the most exasperating afternoon you have ever had at the Stadium of Light, Aston Villa would almost certainly figure in it.

Last season, Danny Collins saw a perfectly good winner chalked off by Steve Bennett. This year, Villa came, did an excellent impersonation of smash and grab raiders, and, with the help of Mike Dean, left with three undeserved points.

Let’s deal with Dean first. Generally, he had a rotten game and allowed Villa to foul at will in the first 20 minutes. Martin O’Neill is no angel (he signed Robbie Savage and turned him into a world class a***hole) and he knows that if fouls are passed on, referees are less likely to clamp down. So, in that first 20 minutes, no player committed more than one foul. And guess what? No Villa player was booked.

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