There is unlikely to be appetite for dwelling much longer on the disappointment of three successive defeats in games we led from the early stages and ought, in two cases out of three, to have gone on and won.

So let us delve instead into the Salut! Sunderland archive for another blast of nostalgia.

Sir Tim Rice was the first celebrity follower of Sunderland to be interviewed in my series for what was then 5573 – think of the date of our last FA Cup Final win – and soon afterwards became Wear Down South, newsletter of the London & SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Association.

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Are you sitting comfortably? That was how I introduced an interview back in 2002 with Terry Deary, bestselling author and lifelong Sunderland fan.

It was, of course, part of the Wear Down South series on celebrity supporters; Terry may not be a famous-for-being-famous, Newcastle-style celeb supporter (Ant, Dec and Cheryl springing effortlessly to mind), but he does occupy a lofty position in the field of literature, specifically books for children. Those books, as I explained back then, sell or disappear from library shelves faster than Enid Blyton: 210 titles in 41 languages at the last count, with worldwide sales exceeding 25 million. And that’s just part of Terry’s success story, as you shall discover. The last time we updated the interview, he was warming to the Roy Keane regime, full of admiration for a “rare manager who makes no excuses (injuries, bad refs, bad luck etc.) and doesn’t whinge when things go wrong”.

Time for another catch-up, but now something has gone very wrong, wrong enough to interrupt Terry’s record of season ticket ownership. It starts harmlessly enough, but then gets blood-curdlingly sinister as he sticks a knife into the heart of modern football. Steve Bruce had best not be shown this …

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Gavin Stewart

It was time in any case for another look at Kate Adie*, one of the finest TV news reporters this country has produced but more importantly, for the purposes of Salut! Sunderland, a fan since girlhood of SAFC. Occasionally, someone pops up at 606 or Ready to Go alleging that Kate isn’t really a supporter. All I can say is that it is now 35 years since my first conversation with her about our shared Sunderland passion. She is utterly genuine about it. In due course, I may be able to persuade Kate to update this piece written for my series on celebrity supporters at Wear Down South, magazine of the London and SE branch of the SAFC Supporters’ Assocation. But in the run-up to Sunday’s Wear-Tyne derby, it is worth refreshing memories of the original if only because of a lovely anecdote from one of those delicious 2-1 victories under Peter Reid at St James’ Park …

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Another slice of Salut! Sunderland nostalgia with apologies to those to whom it is all a bit familiar. Many years ago, when I was writing about Sunderland celebrity supporters for Down South, branch magazine of the London & Southern England SAFSA, the chance arose to interview Alan Price. I had discovered that despite his later association with Fulham, and what I assumed were the Mag allegiances of the Animals, Alan had grown up a devoted SAFC fan. His reminiscences were repeated here a few years ago but are worth repeating because the Salut! Sunderland audience these days far exceeds the combined readerships of Wear Down South and this site in earlier days …

First published during the bad though not quite disastrous 2001-2002 campaign (the 19-point disaster was a season later)

Good though the Animals were as a Sixties band, I had always assumed they were a bunch of Mags.

“Oh Lord,” comes the thundering response from Alan Price at the very thought. “Please don’t let me be misunderstood.

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

Let the build-up to the Tyne-Wear derby begin. We think we know plenty already: Newcastle will not do a PSV Eindhoven and beat us 10-0; we won’t repeat the 1908 scoreline of NUFC 1 SAFC 9, and it will be tense on and off the field. Starting today with a priceless tale from the Sunderland-supporting Dr Feelgood lead singer, Salut! Sunderland offers a few bits and pieces of derby-related nostalgia as matchday approaches. We will have at least one Toon “Who are You?” feature. Pete Sixsmith will take his own look back at past encounters before climbing eight miles high in the St James’ Park away end to report on the game. And read on for news of a little competition …

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Eight years ago, I thought I’d cracked it for my series of Celebrity Supporter interviews for Wear Down South. Missing out on Gina McKee, Dave Stewart and – bizarrely given his initial enthusiasm – Glenn Hugill had been disappointing, but an exclusive interview with Peter O’Toole beckoned …

Peter O’Toole‘s connection with Sunderland AFC was, for a very long time, a mystery to me.

I’d heard the rumours, been told of the chatshow asides and wondered about the truth. Couldn’t recall seeing him in the away end anywhere, and didn’t bump into him on rare forays into executive dining areas.
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When I thank you for the stream of visits to Salut! Sunderland that has sent us rocketing up the Soccerlinks hit parade to the dizzy heights of the mid-40s, “you” includes the away fans attracted by the Who Are You? feature and such controversies as the Ilunga/Jones affair. While I stand by for an invasion by Spurs fans later in the week, ahead of Saturday’s game at White Hart Lane, I will give another airing to an interview from the Celebrity Supporters series that began with 5573 (later renamed Wear Down South), the magazine of the Sunderland supporters’ association London branch, and continued at the old site.

Melanie Hill, whom I described as a “smashing actress known from Bread, Brassed Off and much more” was easily one of the nicest interviewees in the series. She agreed to an interview two days before the fateful Arsenal match in Oct 2002, Peter Reid’s last in charge, and rang again just before kick-off to fix a time. The interview took place the day after Reid’s sacking. As I said at the time, it felt like a whirlwind telephone romance.

Here, for those who missed the interview when it first appeared (and apologies to those for whom it is just a repeat), is one of the stars of our wider support base …

This starts as a tale of two celebrities with strong Sunderland links, of one door opening while the echo of another slamming shut is ringing in the ears.

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Colin Randall has only himself to blame for being lumbered with a search for celeb supporters of Sunderland. He accepted the task cheerfully. He should have known better, having previously done a Famous on the Fulwell piece for A Love Supreme. But he persevered …

It was probably the most crushing condemnation of all the work we put into making Salut! Sunderland a half-decent site.

In one of those periodic threads at Ready to Go about celeb supporters of Sunderland, I yet again pointed out that the most comprehensive and reliable list, with interviews, had appeared here. And someone came back like a rocket to say he hadn’t even heard of half my candidates.
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Picture this: a simple request to the Burnley FC press office: can we please use your photo of Jimmy Adamson, who managed both our clubs, to accompany a great Q&A with the man who runs Clarets Mad? Missing open goals may be the Turf Moor press office’s forte, as Colin Randall reports …

Now Salut! Sunderland would never dream of accusing Burnley of being a Nazi-occupied town just because the BNP gets the odd vote there, odd being the operative word.

But we do get the impression they’re just a little image conscious. Alastair Campbell – arguably a Salut! Sunderland protege*, Fleet Street’s best-known bagpipes player, Tony Blair’s bruising press secretary, probably Burnley’s best known supporter – shows symptoms.

Good read, said Alaistair, after seeing what Tony Scholes, editor of Clarets Mad, had contributed in his terrific answers to the Salut! Sunderland questionnaire ahead of the big game. “But change the picture!!!”

Picture? Oh, this one:

I loved it, as it happens. But it wouldn’t have been my first choice.

Tony, for ever to be admired for the speed with which he agreed to answer our questions, was the obvious subject. But he warned us early on that he “doesn’t do photos” (is he even older than the codgers behind Salut! Sunderland?).

Next stop was Burnley FC. The club site has a lovely piece that marked the 80th birthday of Jimmy Adamson, closely associated with both clubs. Could we perhaps reproduce the photo? We put the question to D Bentley and S Meakin, listed as the relevant contacts in the club’s press office.

If I am to be honest, given my dealings with football club press offices, I expected a mean-spirited but reasonably courteous brush off. I did not receive a reply, and must assume that this rank lack of courtesy at least represented the mean-spirited brush off.

So we turned tio Flickr and Google photos, finding at the latter Andreas Andrews’s evocative terrace image. No apologies, Alastair, since it’s a bloody good picture. But here’s your early invitation: do the Q&A AND choose the photo when we meet again at the Stadium of Light …

* Centuries ago, I was The Daily Telegraph’s reporter covering the West Country. Alastair was working on a local paper in Cornwall. Local papers traditionally pay appalling wages and Alastair, anxious to eat (and to advance in his career), supplied occasional stories or help with stories for the national press. And I arranged his money – undoubtedly a pittance by comparison with what he got from the Mirror or Sun lads – so maybe that made me his paymaster. We’ve met a couple of times since those days, and – despite the bad press he tends to get – I have always liked the man. I had hoped the result from Turf Moor would leave him feeling miserable, but hadn’t bargained on so meek a Sunderland surrender in the second half of a game that was there to win.

One of the perks of living a long way from the UK is that you become detached from the media-driven storms that occasionally swamp daily life. Even in Abu Dhabi, I was aware of the row over dodgy calls from Russell Brand, on his BBC Radio 2 show, to the Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs. I knew Brand had resigned in the subsequent furore, and that Jonathan Ross had been suspended. Until a friend alerted me yesterday, I had missed the news that Lesley Douglas – a star of Salut! Sunderland – had also resigned, leaving her job as controller of the station ( a job she had done very successfully) on noble and, these days, rare grounds: “The events of the last two weeks happened on my watch. I believe it is right that I take responsibility for what has happened.”

Lesley was not only, as one report I have now seen notes, “enormously popular with her employees” to the extent that “her departure will have a disastrous effect on morale at the BBC”. She is also a Sunderland supporter, and – five years ago – gave a terrific interview to me for the London SAFCSA branch newsletter Wear Down South.
This was reproduced at Salut! Sunderland soon after this site was launched. And in tribute to Lesley’s fine efforts to transform a bland radio station into something worth hearing, and to her wise choice of football team, I repeat it here in the hope that, together with these words, it cheers her up as much as she once cheered us…..

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