LATEST NEWS (Dec 1):

The media are reporting the arrest of a 26-year-old man from Chester-le-Street on suspicion of racially abusing Mrs Bent. He has been bailed pending further inquiries. No further comments can be accepted on this posting.

More details have emerged about the alleged racial taunt that caused such offence to Darren Bent’s mother, and therefore to her son. However, the reporting of the incident is inconsistent and in serious need of proper clarification …

Salut! Sunderland takes no pleasure in returning to the subject of the alleged racial slur that so outraged Darren Bent.

If a report in today’s Northern Echo is correct, then the location of the incident has moved. But it remains a matter of no less concern to what I am sure is the overwhelming majority of Sunderland fans.

Also, taking this account at face value, we can exclude any suggestion that Darren Bent’s mother misunderstood a fan’s accent or attempt at humour (which was suggested as a possible explanation in a comment posted here after our first report).
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What does Arsene Wenger do when the Gunners have a Saturday blank? If he was listening to James Alexander Gordon at 5pm, he would have risked a wry smile as he heard the dour Scotsman intone “Wigan Athletic 1 Sunderland 0”.

In his summing up last week, he said that Sunderland needed to do better against the lesser sides in the League. It was relatively easy to work on and carry out a game plan against the top sides, but that had to be modified when the opponents were not as exalted as his club, said the Sage of North London.
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Even more depressing than the team’s after-the-Lord-Mayor’s-ball type of performance at Wigan was news that Darren Bent ‘s mother was racially abused at the DW stadium. And even more depressing than that, he says a Sunderland supporter was the culprit.

Bent vented his feelings in a message posted to his Twitter page after the game: “So we get beaten by Wigan and to make matters worse my mum gets racially abused by a Sunderland fan. I won’t stand for that.”

He apparently added for good measure that the offender “needs to hope I don’t find out his name or who he is”, and I don’t blame him.
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Rob Mason’s work as the editor or author of Sunderland-related publications is so packed with statistics that you feel he must have been good at maths at school. Colin Randall adds his £3′s worth to the praise heading Rob’s way …

Snatches of a BBC local radio interview with Rob Mason, editor of the Sunderland matchday programme, Red & White, prompted me to dig into my pockets and stump up for the edition on sale for the Arsenal game.

I do not always buy programmes these days as I find their prices are usually on the steep side. But R&W kept me going for a good 30 minutes and I have dipped into it a couple of times since.

If I therefore feel I wasn’t robbed after all, that is in great measure due to the efforts of Rob.

As passionate a SAFC fan as you are likely to meet, Rob is also a talented and conscientious man whose hand has been evident in various SAFC-related projects. He also edits the Legion of Light and is the author of the priceless reference book Sunderland: the Complete Record - my edition stops at 2005 but has proved an invaluable source of facts and figures on countless occasions.

What I like about Rob’s editorship of the in-house publications – the programme and Legion of Light – is that he quite evidently works hard to overcome the obvious and understandable constraints to produce strong, professional works of journalism.

In a recent article at Salut! Sunderland, Echoes of the Past, I praised the skill and ingenuity of Graham Anderson and Ian Laws in presenting comprehensive and lively coverage of the club, a task that involves walking a tricky tightrope between the need to retain journalistic integrity and the need to stop doors being shut in their faces.

No one will turn to Red & White for a challenging report exposing some less than admirable aspect of club policy, for example the unjust and – as it would be if Britain had a written constitution – unconstitutional banning of supporters who may be suspected of football-related disorder but have been convicted of nothing.

But that is the role of independent media, the Sunderland Echo included. What Rob and his team do particularly well is to package bright, entertaining and often well-written material of interest to all Sunderland fans, and probably many who follow other teams too, with a sharp eye for design and contrast.

It is easy for such publications to be so obsequious that they insult readers’ intelligence; whenever I read something with which Rob is involved, I gain the impression he has taken care to avoid any such pitfall.

In the copy I bought before the Arsenal game, Doug Weatherall’s column was devoted to a tribute to the achievements and style of Arsene Wenger.

It was a good read once you got past a confusing typo in the opening paragraph, but was also a welcome reminder of my own occasional encounters with this veteran of North-eastern sports journalism. Doug was my introduction to the world of Fleet Street decades ago; as a Daily Herald football reporter, he called to speak to my father, who was secretary of Shildon AFC, to talk about a first-round FA Cup draw away to Oldham Athletic. Dad was at work so he made do with the secretary’s snotty 13-year-old son who may well have predicted a giantkilling Shildon victory.

The last time I saw Doug was 17 years ago, on the pitch at Roker Park as we both interviewed players about the then imminent FA Cup final against Liverpool. Astonishingly, he keeps pumping out the words and I was pleased to see in R&W that in a warm appraisal of the Sunderland programme, the November issue of Programme Monthly had singled out Doug’s column as a highlight of a good all-round product.

Whatever minor quarrels I have had with them in the past, Rob and his team deserve the plaudits. Perhaps they are on their way towards a third successive “Best Read in the Premier League” award.

Pete Sixsmith’s had his say. Another pal, Martin Emmerson, Sunderland through and through but working for BBC Radio N*wc****e, alerts me to his tuppence worth. Martin will be at Wigan, but fears it may be another case of a great result against top opposition followed by deep disappointment against lesser mortals. Up to the Lads to prove him wrong …

Is there life after a 9-1 drubbing?
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We Sunderland fans are very pleased to have Steve Bruce as our manager. He has made an excellent start. He has brought in good players and moved on players who had gone past their time at the Stadium of Light. He looks a winner.

Imagine my surprise then, to read that he was to blame for Wigan Athletic’s 9-1 defeat at Tottenham. It was his entire fault, according to Dave Whelan. He had left the club with a poor selection of players which new manager Roberto Martinez was desperately trying to sort out. Bruce should take the blame, Martinez was faultless.

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No Darren Bent, Kenwyne Jones still suspended. No Cattermole, first choice keeper out too. Wigan 1 Sunderland 9 somehow doesn’t look on the cards. Bernard Ramsdale*, who runs the Olde Tree and Crown Wigan fans’ site and romped home last year as winner of our award for the best “Who are You?” feature, has probably spent his Spurs ticket refund already. But he does not expect to be as glum after Saturday’s game as he was in the “after” part of these before and after shots from last Sunday afternoon …

Salut! SunderlandCrikey. You beat Chelsea only to get thrashed by Pompey and murdered by Spurs. Explain Wigan’s season so far.

Errr, how about inconsistent?

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Sunderland supporters are known for their complete objectivity and generosity of spirit.

So let’s offer congratulations to Arsène Wenger’s team for bouncing back from defeat at the Stadium of Light – how pleasing it is to write those words – to brush aside Standard Liège.

And there’s another trophy heading the Gunners’ way, or more accurately a Gooner’s way. This one takes the form of Salut! Sunderland‘s modest prize for what it considers the best Arsenal response to our criticism of Wenger’s post-match comments, which appeared (in context and out of it) haughtily dismissive of SAFC.
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Salut! Sunderland presents a challenge to Arsenal supporters – the poster of the best comment received by 10am tomorrow WED NOV 24 will be offered a Nick Hornby book (regular, that is, not special edition) of his of her choice …

We’ve had our say. Sunderland fans, even those who have a lot of admiration for the players Arsène Wenger chooses and the way they play for him, think he went way beyond the limits of reason and fairness in his post-match comments. Notably this:

“Sunderland were aggressive but you expect that. I think that they tried to stop us from playing, sometimes on the fringes of the rule, but that’s part of the game.”

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