When a contributor reckoned at Salut! Sunderland last week that we might be in for a hammering at St James’ Park, he was shot down in the nearest thing to flames we get around here.

Well, it this wasn’t a hammering, we want to know what it was. Pete Sixsmith’s will doubtless expand on his tale of woe tomorrow. This was today’s diary of gloom (with interjections from the Blackcats list). It starts with gentle banter before descending into the darkness …
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This is the slot where Salut! Sunderland‘s inimitable chronicler and sage casts his instant judgement on every SAFC match – well nearly every one – from the moral high ground of having been there. Agree or disagree with his seven-word verdict as you will, but they come from the heart of a first-rate analyst of any football game. They will appear as soon after each final whistle as we can manage (which sometimes may not be as soon as we’d like). If an asterisk precedes the comment, the words that follow are the work of someone else. Each week, we update to include the latest verdict plus the previous five – a link at the end takes you to the full recent history of Sixer’s Sevens…

Oct 31 2010 Newcastle United (3) 5 SAFC (0) 1 A complete embarrassment from beginning to end

Oct 23 2010 SAFC (1) 1 Aston Villa (0) 0 Just enough to hang on, but shaky

Oct 18 2010 Blackburn Rovers (0) 0 SAFC (0) 0 A complete waste of a Monday night

Oct 2 2010 SAFC (0) 0 Manchester United (0) 0 Were superior throughout and completely outplayed United

Sat Sept 25 2010 Liverpool (1) 2 SAFC (1) 2 Showed real quality and deserved to win

Tues Sept 21 2010 Carling Cup: SAFC (1) 1 West Ham (1) 2 Disappointing: as flat as Saturday was sharp

To see Sixer’s Sevens in full, click here

If anyone still wants to enter the Tyne/Wear derby competition, the prize is now a choice between a copy of Ian Black’s pictured book and the Lance Hardy account of Sunderland’s famous last FA Cup win, Stokoe, Sunderland ’73. See footnote …

Countless thousands of people have caught the Tyne/Wear derby fever.

Those of us getting long in the tooth may sort of just want the whole thing over, preferably with three points (and that goes for fans of either side) in the bag.

Others hang on to every detail of the build-up to a game that captures imaginations around the world and is seen, rightly, as a fair English equivalent of the Old Firm or Milan derbies.
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Ken Waugh*, who runs the Talk of the Tyne fan site, has been unwell, my hand’s been dodgy after an op but we’ve patched together one last derby preview, Ken answering the same questions put to Keith Topping the other day …

See also: Keith Topping on the Toon/Wear divide: Harmless banter or poisoned hatred?

Salut! Sunderland:
Welcome back. I mean it – despite our rivalries, the common sense position has to be to want all three major North-eastern clubs in the Premier. What do you make of it so far?

As expected, tough with a freak win over Villa, think we can stay up but we need to avoid injuries.

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One day to go. Pete Sixsmith cannot wait for it to be over if truth be told. Here, he climbs back on to his Soapbox to recall a bizarre derby day from the past …

Probably the most surreal derby experience I had was in our final season at Roker Park in 1997.

We had lost to them at Roker earlier in the season, despite Martin Scott putting us into the lead. Their two goals, scored in a five minute spell by Beardsley and Ferdinand were met with complete silence as there were, officially, no Newcastle fans inside the ground.
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Image: A Love Supreme

Steve Bruce‘s dismissal of stories that he has put a £20m price tag on the head of Jordan Henderson is timely and wise.

One sure result of publicly stating such a value would be to announce to the world that Jordan was for sale.

And another would be to fix the quoted sum as the highly negotiable starting point, with one of the Manchester clubs, Chelsea or maybe even ‘appy ‘arry coming in with a joke offer of rather than less than half. For a player we very much want to stay at Sunderland anyway.
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Owen Lennox* is a Sunderland supporter with unusual gifts. He is an author, as recently demonstrated on these pages with the story of his novel touching on Wearside history, he is an art teacher and he is an accomplished painter. Here, he describes how an attempted little sideline – painting SAFC figureheads in the hope they’d fork out to own the resulting masterpieces – slid slowly from the canvas …

As a practising portrait painter, when the commissions are few and far between I need to keep my eye in.

I am also an honorary member of the three little pigs’ society; I need to keep the big bad wolf from the door.

In order to kill two birds with one stone I use a ruse employed by the late John Bratby, he used to make portraits of famous people then contact them, on occasion they would buy their portrait, and this has proved a moderately successful ploy for me until it comes to famous footballers or managers.

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Sunderland fans remember the 2-1 victory in torrential rain at Newcastle United in 1999. Pete Sixsmith’s memory goes back further to another wet occasion at St James’ Park, without the uplifting consolation of a win …

Half term and a couple of days in Lincolnshire, watching the delights of Louth Town v Shirebrook Town (8-0) and Lincoln Moorlands Railway v Long Eaton Town (5-0), with this game enlivened by a strange Long Eaton supporter bellowing out “Come on Long Eaton” at regular intervals and giving a decent impersonation of the late lamented Emperor of Exmoor.

I awoke this morning, logged on to the trusty lap top and nearly expired on the spot. There, on this very site, was a fair, balanced and very enjoyable view of the Tyne/Wear Derby – by a Mag.
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Time soon enough for the talking to end and the real stuff to take over. But after a season without the need for a Newcastle United “Who are You?”, the Toon version of the feature is back as surely as the derby itself Keith Topping*, author (40+ books) and broadcaster, is the man whose dismantling of the Tony Blair/St James’ Park myth (deserved to be true, but there you go – see footnote**) was reluctantly given prominence here a while back. Stand by for an entertaining read from someone who sees through Mike Ashley but may still believe the Mags to be “everyone’s second favourite club”…

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Ascension
Image: Akuppa

Click here for Salut! Sunderland’s first look at the derby through Mag eyes …

As every schoolboy ought to know, our last win at St James’ Park – a distressing 10 years ago – was made all the sweeter by an Alan Shearer penalty miss. Here are two of the many stories of that aspect of Nov 18 2000 …

Aintree, for the 2001 Grand National. On the basis that nothing is too good for the Sunderland-supporting working class, Guy Illingworth felt no shame at being treated to all the goodies corporate hospitality can bring. Plus a famous neighbour.
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