No game this weekend – though we should, of course, have been playing Southampton in the FA Cup – so it seems the right time to deal with a spot of necessary admin: how to combat a scourge of the internet age …

Salut! Sunderland, and its sister sites Salut! , Salut! Live and Salut! North, have been infested by an ugly, virulent pest called the website parasite.

The aim of the people posting comments which appear at first glance to be genuine, but can quickly be seen to be bogus and probably generated by computers, is to produce artificially inflated stats for visits to their own, usually unrelated sites or promote Viagra, medicines or whatever else they are trying to flog.
(more…)

In a more innocent age, people often felt flattered when approached for autographs, to the extent of finding a bit of space on the final page and writing silly rhymes likes “by hook or by crook, I’ll be last in this book”. These days, it seems, it is a chore to be avoided whenever possible. Salut! Sunderland can see that footballers may regard autograph hunters are annoying, trainspotterish oiks. But Pete Sixsmith argues that it doesn’t actually take a long time out of their lives to oblige young admirers

As if things were not bad enough …

A dismal mid season could well herald yet another relegation scrap. There is animated discussion amongst the fans about whether Bruce should go to the library with the pearl handled revolvers and do the decent thing. It appears the camp is split between the underachievers brought in by Keane and those attracted to the club by Bruce. And now……..

We have players who are non-signers.

(more…)