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Welcome to Salut! Sunderland.

Or rather, welcome to where Salut! Sunderland used to be. The site has been redesigned and can now be found at http://www.salutsunderland.com.

No further postings will appear here. I will be disabling the Comments field so that anything you wish to say about SAFC, football generally or the site should be said at Salut! Sunderland‘s new address.

There are bound to be teething problems. But if you have landed here and wish to see what is going on at the site, please reset browsers, replace old bookmarks, wave magic wands and hope to be transported to Salut! Sunderland.

***** SALUT! SUNDERLAND *****

Salut! Sunderland has news of its own to announce …

It seems somehow fitting that as the appointment of Martin O’Neill ushers in what we hope will be a successful new era for Sunderland AFC, Salut! Sunderland should also present its new face to the world. It should, with a little luck, make its blushing debut tomorrow (Tuesday Dec 6).

As a reader of newspapers since childhood, and as someone who has written for them for far too long (without ever once thinking of hacking anyone’s phone or bribing a cop), I have lost count of the times I have frowned or worse at redesigns.

Usually, as in the case of The Guardian, I end up approving; sometimes, with apologies to The Times, I do not. Brought up on the old Daily Herald, I would have been appalled had it gone tabloid. I was appalled enough that it developed into the old and later new Sun.

Equally, I realise not every Salut! Sunderland reader will take to the new look of the site. My hope is that any doubters stick with us, slowly accepting and – with luck – ultimately welcoming the makeover. It is a work in progress with further changes planned, in particular with a view to making the banner more colourful and relevant to the dominant subject matter: ie Sunderland AFC. But I wanted to get on with it, not keep waiting for everything to fall into place before relaunching.

The process will be one of trial and error. I’d be delighted if readers played a part, suggesting innovations that might be considered, tweaks that need to be made, aspects they like or dislike about the changes.

Was the old design broken? Did it really need mending? That is a matter for debate. I felt it had become old-fashioned and disliked the way postings simply fell off the home page or forced people to scroll down farther than they’d like. The new arrangement of several items on the home page is more attractive to my eye, but also more functional. I hope it makes more people bookmark the basic site address rather than always waiting for a prompt from newsnow.co.uk or elsewhere.

None of this could have been done with the patience and enthusiasm of Sam Haseltine, owner of Golbox.com, a welcoming home for football bloggers. He may follow West Ham but is a smashing bloke and has been a tower of support and strength throughout the redesign process.

Salut! Sunderland has grown considerably in the five years, near enough, since it was a launched as an offshoot of Salut!, the site I created after being booted out by The Daily Telegraph, for which I had written with some success (clearly not enough!) a blog from Paris.

The incomparable Pete Sixsmith, star of yesterday’s TV screens (caught shaking his head crossly at 1-1), has been in on it from the start. His one-line matchday verdicts, Sixer’s Sevens, have become an institution and his fuller analysis of each game, opinion pieces, football travelogues and previews are must-reads, up their in terms of quality, knowledge and wit with the work of Louise Taylor and George Caulkin.

In more recent times, Jeremy Robson and Bill Taylor have chipped in with thoughts from Canadian exile while Luke Harvey, Malcolm Dawson, Ken Gambles, Martin Robson, Bob Chapman, Peter Allen, Andrew Curry, Eric Sweeney, Neil Ruttley, Tash and Derek Scott, Bernard Ramsdale, Martin Emmerson, Owen Lennox, Lee Nicholls and even young Phil Sixsmith have written articles. We’ve often raided the literary treasures of the Blackcats list for the words of such astute commentators as Ian Porter, Ian Lynch, Mike Allcock, Ian Todd, Jim Minton, Geoff Bethell and Andy Humble. Even once I have mentioned the mysterious Birflatt Boy, aka Mr Angry, there are bound to be people I have missed out (let me know and your names will be inserted).

When M Salut is away, Joan Dawson – who did such a great job as co-ordinator of the SAFCSA London and Southern England branch newsletter Wear Down South – has held the fort admirably.

I hope the new changes do appeal to you, immediately or in time. I also hope the site, having got its first millions “hits’ under its belt some months ago, goes from strength to strength. We have tried to set high standards; now we must work hard to maintain and improve them.

Colin Randall

aka …

Monsieur Salut

The Sixer's Soapbox

The world saw Pete Sixsmith shaking his head in disbelief, or rather all too familiar belief, at Molineux. If you thought that made for dodgy television, wait until you read what Pete makes of having been present at the chilling reality of one more Sunderland collapse …

Martin O’Neill started to follow Sunderland at about the same time as M Salut and I.

We all worshipped Charlie Hurley, Jimmy McNab, George Mulhall and others of that generation. That side was a good one that failed to establish itself in the top flight because of a dithering board of directors. Our current custodian of the club has acted quickly and has appointed a manager renowned for being successful. What on earth did he make of Sunday?

He must have been impressed with the two Kierans and Sessegnon: all three did well. For 70 minutes, he must have nodded his head in approval as Brown and O’Shea strode through the game and looked like the players we expect them to be.

Larsson, Bardsley and Colback would probably have him thinking that they were competent, if limited Premier League players. He saw the best and worst of Cattermole – a great through ball to Bendtner in the build up to the goal, preceded by a needless booking when he attempted to hold up a Wolves player. He won’t be starting next Sunday as it was his fifth yellow of the season. Not a captain who leads by example.

I don’t think he would have been impressed with Ji Dong-won or Bendtner. The Korean looked way, way out of his depth, while the Dane did not seem to have a great deal of, shall we say, “personal motivation”.

As Larsson lined up to take the penalty, O’Neill could well have been thinking that we had won it and it relieved the pressure. Twenty minutes later, he would have been thinking that he and his coaching staff have an awful lot of work to do between now and next Sunday if we are to stay out of the bottom three.

This was a four game stretch that was supposed to start our season off, four winnable games against teams in the same category as us: strugglers. From three games, we have taken one point – and that came courtesy of a glaring Clint Dempsey miss.

We have taken the lead in the last two and have proved incapable of holding on to it. This week, we contrived to let Steve Fletcher loose in the box on two occasions so that he could score. That’s what Fletcher does – put him in the box and he scores. Presumably, neither Brown nor O’Shea realised this and so left him unmarked.

But the main problem came in the centre of midfield, where our two limited members, Cattermole and Colback, were pushed back by their two limited members, Edwards and O’Hara. Four similar players, neat and tidy, good ball winners, lacking in imagination, but the Wolves pair seized the opportunity to push us back. Plus, they have an outlet in Jarvis that we do not. Width and pace are sadly lacking in O’Neill’s inherited team.

The first half was distinctly average, with a great save from Westwood and a Sessegnon shot cleared off the line being the only notable incidents. Wolves concentrated on getting the ball to Jarvis, but Bardsley handled him well and Fletcher and Doyle did little to trouble the centre backs.

Richardson’s excellent goal gave us hope and when Larsson tumbled over Craddock’s outstretched leg for the penalty, it looked all over. He made the most of it, but Craddock did have his leg in the way and there was minimal contact. Phil Dowd was perfectly positioned and was right to give it (Salut! Sunderland split shock – ed).

Whether Larsson was right to take it was another matter. Sessegnon took the last one we got and stroked it in nicely. Larsson appeared to be intimidated by the unhappy crowd and the giant figure of Hennessey and took a penalty that I could have saved. Poor stuff!!

I turned to Ronnie McDonald and said: “We’ll lose this now.” That was based on 50 years of watching Sunderland and I know when we are about to fall to pieces. Had we scored, the crowd would have been quietened and may well have turned on McCarthy and we would have coasted home.

Instead, they perceived that a wrong had been righted and went up and scored. Wolves fans can be a miserable bunch (QPR and Swansea at home show that), but when they get the bit between their teeth, they can lift players. Which is exactly what they did.

The previously unruffled Brown and O’Shea now found themselves under intense pressure and could not handle it. Jarvis skinned Bardsley, O’Hara might have handled it in the build up to the winner but Brown lost Fletcher and that was it. From a position of dominance, we were now in deficit and never looked like levelling.

The new management team have this week to instil some confidence in a bunch of players who are severely lacking it at the moment. Goalscoring is a problem as there is nobody we can rely on to get us one when we are under pressure. The midfield does not impose itself and it will be interesting to see who gets in on Sunday. There are rumours that Gardner has not settled and may be off to Wolves in January. O’Neill has already sold him once.

As for Wolves, they worked hard throughout and personify Mick McCarthy: gritty, determined and reliable, a hard side to beat if you allow them to come back at you. It was a huge win for them and gives them hope for the future. That’s the third season running they have come from behind to beat us at Molineux. They must love playing Sunderland.

Next Sunday is now a real six-pointer and a serious test for the new manager. Expectations of a 17th place finish are all that we are interested in at the moment, but a resurgent Rovers team may well dump us in the bottom three. Martin O’Neill must be thinking wistfully of the Hurleys and Crossans of another world as he looks at the collection of odds and ends that make up the squad he has inherited.

image: Addic_tedKevin

M Salut offers some advice to Martin O’Neill on the fines he may wish to consider imposing after yesterday’s defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory at Molineux …

The competition – click here – to come up with a new name for Martin O’Neill column at Salut! Sunderland is still open.

OK, the new manager does not yet know he’s to have one. But whether he chooses to sent out post-match e-mails or rely on simple statements and comments, his thoughts will be distilled on these pages just as Steve Bruce’s were.

Out, then, with Bruce’s Banter and – after its solitary appearance yesterday – Black’s Bluster and in with The O’Neill opinion, Martin’s Musings, O’Neill On Us, O’Neill’s O’Natterings or any of the others already or still to be suggested. MON – and yes, I could always wait until Monday each week before posting his comments and call the column, as above, MON day, but I won’t – should not feel disqualified from offering his own preferred name.

This is what he had to say yesterday:

“It’s a nice feeling to be back in football and obviously I’m very excited about joining Sunderland,” he said. It’s a big moment and I’m hoping it works out well. Naturally I want to do well for the fans, the team and myself. If we can combine all this and start winning football matches it would be terrific.

All I can say, without promising the earth, moon and stars is I will do my utmost to bring a bit of success to Sunderland. I would like it to be a really successful period and I’m going to try my best to achieve that. That’s what I’ve come for – that’s what I want to do.”

And there will be no complaints from Salut! Sunderland if, having witnessed the team throw away yet another promising matchday position and come away with nothing, he applies the following fines:

* Kieran Richardson: a month’s wages for his foolish yellow card for removing his short after scoring. I do not care how much the religious message means to him; it was hardly Billy Sharp territory, and was deeply unprofessional

* Seb Larsson: six weeks’ wages. Just two for the penalty miss, woeful as it was, his shot lacking power and aimed or mishit comfortably close to Hennessey. Four for a dive that gets within an inch of replac Barton’s feigned injury as the title of our “Who are You” question on cheating in football

* Wes Brown: a fortnight’s wages for his wholly inadequate response when the cross came in from which Fletcher scored the equaliser. Ditto Lee Cattermole for putting himself on a yellow card yet again.

* Keiren Westwood: two days’ pay for spoiling his earlier good work, especially the terrific one-handed save in the first half, by gesticulating for hand ball instead of being 100 per cent focused on what might happen next (ball in net)

* Phil Dowd: his match fee for evening up the generous penalty decision by failign to spot that when Wolves went ahead, it was in a move that involved clear control of ball by hand (O’Hara) and the scorer (Fletcher again) returning from an offside position to convert the chance

On second thoughts, MON cannot fine the ref. But I trust him to look after the other disciplinary matters raised …

Call it stating the bleeding obvious if you will. Eric Black sends his first and last post-match SAFC e-mail …

Dear Colin,

I thought we deserved to take the lead, but the penalty changed things.

I don’t want to take anything away from Seb [Larsson], though, as he has been fantastic for us.

The penalty was the pivotal moment – if that had gone in, I think we would have gone on to win the game comfortably.

However, within 40 seconds they’ve equalised and the game became very difficult for us from there.

The margins are so fine. Ultimately, if you don’t score you can’t constantly rely on the defence to ensure the opposition don’t get a goal.

It’s bitterly disappointing to lose the game – there are moments which change football matches and the penalty was one of them.

We were drained of confidence and a little bit of energy after that and the game became difficult.

Now there is a new manager coming in and he’ll try to push things forward.

All the best,

Eric Black

This is where Pete Sixsmith captures the glory and shame, hope and despair, excitement and ennui of the Sunderland matchday experience. When, rarely, Pete is absent or delayed, a supersub does it for him and the seven-word verdict is preceded by an asterisk. Pete’s full analysis of the game will usually appear within a day or two.

Today, our new manager Martin O’Neill sat in the directors’ box and watched as Eric Black led the team on the eve of his certain departure from SAFC. Eric knows the score and will probably find work whenever Steve Bruce does, too. Martin knows the score: he has his work cut out to turn a promising if incomplete bunch of players into a team that can build on or defend a lead. OK, the penalty was fortunate but Larsson should have converted it; instead of 2-0, it was 1-1 less than a minute later, and 1-2 soon afterwards as Fletcher returned from an offside position to blast home when set up by O’Hara (who had blatantly handled). Phil Dowd’s way of evening things out; our way, however, of defending appallingly.

The full Sixer’s Sevens archive – see link below – sums up what all Sunderland supporters feel, from darkest gloom to sublime elation, in the words one who is usually there …

Dec 4 2011 Wolverhampton Wanderers (0) 2 SAFC (0) 1 More points sacrificed through weak, sloppy defending

Nov 26 2011 SAFC (1) 1 Wigan Athletic (1) 2 *Bruce’s reign surely over after this debacle. That was M Salut’s verdict, followed by these from Mr Sixsmith: “Shambolic defending spells end for Bruce now”, “He must go after another clueless performance”, “Got what we deserved after brainless display”, “Pressed the self destruct button yet again”, “Second half shocker means Bruce’s time’s up” and finally “Print them all”.

Nov 19 2011 SAFC (0) 0 Fulham (0) 0 Truly appalling game lacking pace, creativity, threat

Nov 5 2011 Manchester United (1) 1 SAFC (0) 0 Decent performance but slipshod defending cost us

Oct 29 2011 SAFC 2 (1) Aston Villa 2 (1) … Determination and effort produced a fair result

Oct 22 2011 Bolton Wanderers (0) 0 SAFC (0) 2 … Team selection vindicated in impressive second half

To see Sixer’s Sevens in full, click here. If an asterisk precedes the comment, the words that follow are the work of someone else because Pete is for once absent from the game or his verdict has been delayed …

Welcome Martin O’Neill. The new manager of Sunderland AFC takes charge with an enormous fund of goodwill from, at a guess, the overwhelming majority of supporters. As results continued to disappoint, Steve Bruce’s post-match e-mails became one of the rods with which he was beaten. Bruce’s Banter has been seen here for the last time. We must wait to see whether O’Neill On Us* – look on it as O’Neill’s Onus if you prefer – is as regular a feature …

So, the new managerial reign begins with the briefest of statements from the incoming boss.

“It’s a very nice feeling to be back in football and to be the manager of Sunderland. It’s a big moment for me. I’d heard about what a good club it was but coming here, seeing the stadium and training ground, I’ve been bowled over. It’s absolutely fantastic.

I hope I can help Sunderland to very successful period. That’s what I’ve come for and that’s my driving ambition.”

O’Neill took Wycombe Wanderers from the Football Conference to the third tier of English football in successive seasons, briefly managed Norwich City and then won promotion to the Premier League as the boss of Leicester City.

Remember that Leicester won the League Cup twice (1997 and 2000) and finishing runners-up in a third final (1999) and also enjoyed four consecutive top 10 finishes.

Moving to Celtic, he achieved the domestic treble in his first season, won three titles in the two-club Scottish Premier, qualified three times for the Champions’ League and reached the 2003 UEFA Cup Final.

At Aston Villa, he led his team to three sixth top finishes running and one League Cup final (as runners up).

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On any reckoning, and despite the falling out with Randy Lerner that seems to have prompted his resignation from Villa, it is a highly impressive managerial record.

Salut! Sunderland cared relatively little about the Geordie background of Steve Bruce but judged him on what he did well – his 10th top finish last season deserved recognition despite the serious decline in form that had followed the inexplicable Darren Bent saga – and where he went wrong.

Similarly, we read less than many into the “boyhood Sunderland supporter” line. Everyone in Northern Ireland who likes football selects an English football club to follow, having first made the tribal choice between Rangers and Celtic. His affection for us may have been deeper than that; his achievements for us will matter a whole lot more.

Colin Randall

* Come up with a better name for Martin O’Neill’s sayings and if M Salut agrees with you, he will send you a Salut! Sunderland mug. Already considered and ruled out: O’Neill Opines (twee); O’Neill Outpourings (arguably too negative), O’Neill Oh Yes (arguably too positive). Your suggestion need not be alliterative.

Image: Mrs Logic

Monsieur Salut looks back on a momentous week for all who care about Sunderland AFC …

As I began to write this review of the week, we were a day into the post-Bruce era of Sunderland AFC, three days from an important game at Molineux.

By the time I finished the first draft (these are after thoughts), we were just waiting for official word that Martin ONeill had Been appointed in Steve Bruce’s place. And MoN knows perfectly well what the Sunderland faithful will be hoping he can pull off.

And what a week it has been.

The late surrender to Wigan and the revolt in the stands against Bruce made his position irretrievable. He had lost the support in sufficient numbers to make it seem unlikely, perhaps even to him, that it could be won back. Salut! Sunderland, having given the manager the run of games to the end of November to make his case for survival, ended its own fence-sitting once the final whistle blew at the Stadium of Light.

This, then, is how the crisis developed from that point, as described on these pages. Click on the highlighted heading to read more:

* Saturday 5pm: In Sixer’s Sevens, Pete Sixsmith’s own seven-word verdicts – he offered five and said “print them all” – are introduced with M Salut’s strident headline: New Manager Please

* Later the same evening: Steve Bruce, in what turns out to be his final Bruce’s Banter, is defiant: “It’s in my nature never to chuck anything so we’ll be ready to go again on Monday morning.”

* Sunday 11am: Pete Sixsmith ponders the implications of the defeat, and the treatment dished out to Bruce, in his gloomy appraisal of Saturday’s events. Pete thinks he may get two more games; he knows the boss is in for “an awful week”. Click Wigan Soapbox: the final countdown if you missed it.

* Sunday 1pm: Jeremy Robson, who has been clamouring as loudly as anyone for dismissal, says Bruce is “a country mile short of what’s needed”. Read it here.

* Monday afternoon: Pete Sixsmith’s brother Phil is visiting from Greece so knows a crisis when he sees one. Read a second Sixsmith account of the Wigan match here.

* Tuesday morning: Colin Randall – aka M Salut – describes the process by which he reached his own conclusion on the appropriate fate of Steve Bruce. The headline – “Why change shouldn’t wait for Wolves and Blackburn” – is self-explanatory.

* Tuesday evening: Birflatt Boy expresses dismay that Bruce has not already been seen off the premises and urges Ellis Short to end the agony. Click here for the full article.

* Wednesday evening: delayed only by M Salut’s guilty pelasure – Come Dine With Me – the official Sunderland AFC announcement drops. Bruce has gone.

* Thursday morning: Pete Sixsmith reflects on the sacking and looks at the options for a replacement. Click on “What Happens Now?”

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Friday morning: amid irresistible speculation about the imminence of Martin O’Neill’s appointment, Pete Sixsmith offered his approval in a heart-before-head assessment. See it here.

There you have it, though not quite all of it. Go over any of those pieces afresh or for the first time and you will see a postbag of comments unmatched since this site was created five years ago. It is a shame that it takes calamity to draw in so many reader’s comments, but thanks hugely for the contributions.

Beyond Bruce, there were two Wolves “Who are You?” features – Oliver and Nathan Graves (aged 16 and 17) here, and Steve Bishop (35 years without missing a match) here – and a moving tribute to Gary Speed from Jeremy Robson. Pete Sixsmith watched the Under 18s beaten by Nottingham Forest in the FA Youth Cup; no one (ie from the public) was allowed to watch the Reserves wallop Scunthorpe 7-0 behind closed doors at the Academy of Light.

And Salut! Sunderland‘s loyal and often very patient readership was asked to tolerate any further technical hitches on the way to the new-look site.

I can say the work in progress is hugely encouraging and hope the redesign will be complete, subject to further improvements, very soon. For anyone who comes this way only once a week or once in a while, perhaps relying on these digests, Salut! Sunderland will never be the same again.

And Ha’way the Bruceless Lads at Molineux tomorrow afternoon.

Monsieur Salut

Image: Psiaki

Years ago, but some months after the changeover from typewriters to computers, a dopey newsdesk man where I then worked surprised colleagues by asking: “Tell me again. How is it that you log on?”

The poor soul was ridiculed. But I quite like dinosaurs.

Perhaps I was alone in warming to Steve Bruce on reading that he barely knew how to send an e-mail until quite recently, and looked completely blank when asked whether the fitness of his Egyptian signing Elmohamady would be affected by fasting during Ramadan. The reporter persisted: “Or is Elmohamady a Coptic Christian rather than a Muslim then?” And Bruce – who might more pertinently have been asked on what footballing grounds Elmo had been bought – looked blanker skill.

Bruce is said to be hurt by his sacking. You would think his team’s record throughout this year had been so poor that the supporters had much more reason to be nursing emotional wounds, but he is entitled to his feelings and I certainly wish him well in whatever he does next.

I said when urging his dismissal earlier this week that he seemed a decent man who had done his best for the clu. And I hold to that view with the important qualification that while Bruce’s place of birth does not matter a jot to me, the fact that his best turned out not to be a long way short of good enough matters a great deal.

But three top seven Premier managers have also had their say. The overall impression – though Arsène Wenger makes no direct mention of the role of Sunderland supporters in Ellis Short’s decision – is that they think we’re a pretty ungrateful, and – that Bruce word – unrealistic bunch.

So for the record:

Harry Redknapp (column in the Sun)

“Sunderland fans will doubtless be celebrating getting their wish in seeing the back of Steve Bruce. Yet unless the men with the purse strings at the Stadium of Light are prepared to loosen them, it won’t matter who they get as a replacement.

Brucie got the bullet when the side failed to reach the expectations on them. But I’d ask how realistic those expectations really are right now? Because unless you are prepared to pay really big money for top, top players, it is almost mission impossible.

Steve was basically working in the middle market — and I mean no disrespect to the players there — when it came to transfers. This season he was relying on loan signings like Nicklas Bendtner or youngsters with great potential such as Connor Wickham … I noticed plenty of fans complaining because he was born in Newcastle but that’s just a crazy situation. OK, he may be a Geordie by birth but he didn’t play for them and I can’t fathom that sort of logic. By that reckoning I’d only be able to manage West Ham.”

Arsene Wenger (Arsenal club site)

“I think it is a mistake because the one to question at Sunderland is certainly not Steve Bruce. He has competence, the desire to win and he is the last one I would question on that.

Unfortunately he went through a bad run and paid the price. I’m pretty sure that he should not have done. Change does not always sort out problems, history shows that it is not successful. It is statistically proven that a change of manager is not always successful.

A club that creates its own instability is always in trouble – it is linked with technical stability, change of players, financially being in the red. All that together is linked with a change of manager.”

Sir Alex Ferguson (TalkSport and elsewhere):

“Fans just don’t have the patience any longer, just see what happened to Steve Bruce up in the North East where being a Geordie didn’t help him. In that part of the world they are so passionate and committed to their football team.

I think Brucie has suffered because of that but that’s the kind of supporters we have these days – no patience. He rebuilt a whole team and that requires a bit of patience from everyone, including Steve. I think Steve was realising that himself that he was going to have to wait. There was a complete turnaround in the summer, they lost a few players – the boy [Jordan] Henderson, the boy [Asamoah] Gyan, Anton Ferdinand and you need that time. I think losing to Newcastle earlier on in the season didn’t help him either because of the way they are in that part of the world.”

Leave aside Redknapp’s patronising tone and you are left with scant analysis of the keys errors Bruce is held to have made. No mention of the unimaginative approach to tactics, the inability to make changes mid-match to counter growing opposition control or build on a narrow early lead or the questionable packing of the squad with journeymen midfielders.

But it is probably the case that in so far as they think about the affairs of Sunderland AFC at all, the supporters of the clubs managed by Ferguson, Redknapp and Wenger broadly share their views. We are not, to them, a club with a mighty, proud history – a history that neutrals not expecting 100th birthday greetings from the Queen would struggle to recall – but a yo-yo team that cannot decide whether its natural habitat is top tier or the next division down.

If Martin O’Neill is appointed, it is to be hoped that, finally, we will have a manager whose own pride and skills are matched by the owner’s ambition. For now, Sunderland supporters not given to those unrealistic expectations would settle for a swift upwards acceleration from the relegation zone – and the rare feeling of looking forward to each game.

Monsieur Salut

It is not quite official. But all the signs are that Martin O’Neill, famously a boyhood supporter of Sunderland, will soon be confirmed – and not for the first time of asking – as our manager. Pete Sixsmith climbs on to his soapbox to offer a hearty, if premature welcome; Salut! Sunderland readers will probably beat M Salut to the news when it formally comes ..

So it looks as if the heart has won and we are going to appoint Martin O’Neill as the 28th Sunderland manager (including “caretakers”) in my 50 years as a supporter. He joins an auspicious group alongside the likes of Bob Stokoe, Peter Reid and Alan Brown – and also those who had less auspicious times in the Roker/SoL hot seat in Mick Buxton, Ian McColl and Howard Wilkinson.

For many Sunderland fans, it is an appointment made in heaven. Pete Horan texted “I can feel the buzz coming back” while friends at the Brandon v Thornaby game last night were enthusiastic about bringing a top class manager into the club for the first time since 1985 and Lawr .. well, let’s forget that one.

What are we going to get for Ellis Short’s money? O’Neill is a motivator, a man with European experience and a man who has won trophies and guided his teams to the upper echelons of the Premier League. He has a reputation for being animated, for being touchy with journalists and TV reporters and for not suffering fools gladly – so bang go my chances of an interview with him.

He has principles as his walk outs from Norwich City and Aston Villa show. Short may well find him pricklier than Bruce, who came across as a manager who knew what was good for him in potential conflict with the owner. Would O’Neill have let Gyan go at the last minute? I doubt it. Would O’Neill have really pushed for the money to bring in a winger? I think he would.

He now has Bruce’s squad to work with until January. The always reliable Pat Murphy (who must double as O’Neill’s agent) has said a number of times that O’Neill does not need a shed load of money and will work within reasonable financial parameters; something which he felt was missing with Randy Lerner at Villa Park.

There are some decent players to work with, but there is an imbalance. There are too many hard working midfield players; we have insufficient flair. No out and out wingers to get the ball across to the one genuine forward we seem to possess.

The defence seems solid, although O’Shea will need to get out of the comfort zone he appears to inhabit. He has been the most disappointing of the summer signings as I expected a lot more from him both in terms of ability and leadership. I am as sure as I can be that there will be no comfort zones under O’Neill.

He has a chance to assess the squad on Sunday. They need to impress. Keith Scott reminded me of the situation when Keane was appointed after the Southend/Bury debacles. Players who had been disinterested and offhand suddenly gave themselves a shake and beat a team that were near the top of the league. Keith said that they had been cheating Quinn and that if they could play as well as that when a new manager was watching, why hadn’t they done it previously?

Should we perform at Wolves, Steve Bruce may well be asking the same question.