Salut! Sunderland‘s daily newspaper of choice, when not in France, is The Guardian, just as its preferred Sunday read is The Observer. It would love there to be a whole day without Graun suits warning of cutbacks and crisis (OK, that’s an exaggeration; a whole month would be fairer.).

But for now, let us just repeat one or two of the questions posed in today’s Guardian on a subject close to our hearts: Kevin Phillips.

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Pete Sixsmith takes up where M Salut left off, a much-deserved dig at the TV people and Premier League for their utterly inconsiderate fixture changes. All the same, a spot of non-league action plus Steve Bruce’s transfer dealings have properly whetted Mr Sixsmith’s appetite for the coming season …

Ticked off my first game on Saturday; an enjoyable friendly between Northern League Division One Shildon and Teesside League regulars, Richmond Town. It ended up in a 2-0 win for the Railwaymen and a chance to see some of the new player who have arrived at Dean Street.

Like Sunderland, they have recruited heavily in the close season and several new players have arrived, while some old favourites have left. The general consensus amongst the regulars who turned up was that the manager had brought in a mixture of experience and potential and that the outlook for the season was positive.

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It is a rant we have had all too often.

Two announcements came today from Sunderland AFC – and in neither case is the club directly responsible – and they tell us a little more about what is wrong with mod€rn football:

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Scott the Red comes calling from time to time, with questions he wants Salut! Sunderland to answer on issues affecting both his club, Manchester United, and ours.

Our signings of Wes Brown and John O’Shea offered a good enough excuse for Scott to return with to ask what we made of them, and Steve Bruce’s other dealings.

Here is the questionnaire, plus a few of the Republik of Mancunia readers’ responses. See whether you agree with me or them or none of us!

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Hats off to Brian Leng and all others concerned with a website called The Roker End*.

Technically home to the Sunderland Former Players’ Association, it is packed with material of interest to every supporter of Sunderland AFC – and a good many supporters of other clubs, too, especially those our players also served.

There are interviews galore, proper features and Q&As, news of events and more besides. Try this list for size and quality: Len Shackleton, Johnny Crossan, Johnny Mapson, John Byrne, Nick Sharkey, Ritchie Pitt, Chris Makin. All of them – and more, yes King Charlie included (see comment) – have been interviewed or quoted. Some quotes are familiar – Shack’s “Listen, I’ve nothing against Newcastle – I don’t care who beats them!” – others less so (Mapson: “For the one and only time in my career, I received an approach to throw a game”).

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The cover speaks for itself.

Issue 13 of It’s the Hope I Can’t Stand, way back in April 1999, and Bob – now Sir Bob – Murray was presiding over a club romping to promotion, scoring goals for amusement and drawing huge crowds to the Stadium of Light. The same SoL that some in the media had suggested could prove a white elephant.

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“I’m over the moon,” says our own Jeremy Robson, greeting news at the Blackcats list that David Vaughan’s transfer to Sunderland is official. “(Charlie) Adam got most of the attention for Blackpool last year but DV was outstanding.”

And now he’s one of ours. Ellis Short cannot even complain that Steve Bruce is spending too much of his money since this one is free, Vaughan being out of contract at Blackpool.

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From Duncan Singh, a researcher with the Tiger Aspect television production company, comes a request so off-the-wall that we could not bring ourselves to say no.

Could Salut! Sunderland please help publicise the company’s work on a three-part series, to be hosted by a Sunderland supporter, for Channel 4 about housing issues in the UK. One of the aims is to look at what can be done about the shortfall in affordable accommodation nationally.

So where do we come into this?

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The quickest of mentions: thanks to the Salut! Sunderland readers who have sent the site surging past the million mark for “hits”.

I said the milestone was looming, but then forgot to keep track.

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Image: Andrea Sartorati

We stuck to our guns and stayed patient. Then the official news came, from both the Manchester United and Sunderland club sites: John O’Shea had followed Wes Brown into the Stadium of Light and joined SAFC for another of those idiotic undisclosed fees.

This is how the announcement came from safc.com:

The 30 year-old Republic of Ireland international … has agreed a deal which will keep him at the Stadium of Light until summer 2015.
O’Shea, who becomes Sunderland’s eighth permanent senior signing of the summer transfer window, will link up with former Red Devils teammate Wes Brown, who also made the switch from Old Trafford.
Speaking following the completion of his move, O’Shea said: “Once I’d heard reports about the club and the people here, the ambitions and what the manager was all about it was the only place I was going to come to.”

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