Colin Randall treads difficult domestic territory, braves the disapproval of a French wife and two half-French daughters and, setting himself up as judge, jury and La Cour de Cassation, finds two of the above guilty as charged …

Not every Englishman is a BNP thug who steams through French railway carriages singing: “If it wasn’t for the English, you’d be Krauts.”

We don’t all subscribe to the “lovely country, shame about the people” jibe – though I actually heard it recently on the lips of my French barber (a necessarily short encounter). Some of us even marry ‘em, Frenchwomen that is not the barbers.

But what are we to make of the behaviour of three Frenchmen, clues to whose identities appear in the headline? Two are easy to guess; the third is largely unknown in England unless you support Sunderland and therefore feel that Jean-Louis Triaud, president of the Girondins de Bordeaux football club, is a cross between arrogant oaf and prize clown.
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It’s been raining Gooners. Some weeks we struggle to find one fan from Sunderland’s next opponents to answer the Salut! Sunderland questionnaire. With Arsenal, it has been a doddle. From New York, Halifax, and Kent, they’ve practically been queueing to have their voices heard. Last up is Darren Wright*, who runs the very popular Gunners’ fansite Wrighty7. Arsenal have to make do these days without the feet – and deadly left hand – of Thierry Henry, but Darren predicts a dodgy Eduardo penalty in a hard-fought away win …

Salut! Sunderland: So, Arsenal are seen as by some as “dark horses” for the title.That makes you sound almost mortal after so long in the top four. Insulting , or a status that takes the pressure off you?

Ha Ha I suppose we looked “immortal” during the unbeaten 2003/04 season but as proved we are mortal like everybody else! To be honest Colin I don’t find us being “dark horses” insulting in the slightest. Manchester United and Chelsea have raised the bar in recent seasons and its up to ourselves and the others to match that. With Liverpool struggling, Manchester City spending and everybody expecting it to be a two-horse race between United and Chelsea I’m happy for Arsenal to be quietly doing the business and nobody really noticing!

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Once upon a time, Fatima al Shamsi*, pictured (left) with her sister Alyazyah outside the Emirates Stadium, accepted an internship at an English-language newspaper in Abu Dhabi, capital of her native UAE, and found herself under the professional guidance of a Sunderland supporter. It would be a gross misrepresentation of events to suggest she returned to college in New York knowing more about SAFC than journalism. The experience left her with some affection for Sunderland, but nowhere near enough to supplant her passion for the Gunners. A day earlier than planned, thanks to some technical hitch, here’s what she has to say…

Salut! Sunderland: Barca, Brazil, Inter Milan and Arsenal. Sounds like the ultimate wish list of the Queen of Gloryseekers. How come you collect great football teams?

AC Milan not Inter! I started watching football when I moved to Brazil at the age of three. although I barely remember any of it. I just remember playing it at school and watching incomprehensibly with my dad and simply loving it. This is why the Brazilian national team has always held a special place in my heart. It been great to see them play beautifully again (especially during the confederation cup over the summer) after recent years of frustrating subpar football which was an absolute horror to watch. With that said I also enjoy watching the Spanish national team and at times Argentina, but when it comes down to it, its definitely club vs. country and I’d take an Arsenal game any day.

I am definitely not a glory seeker! When I was younger me and my dad bonded a lot during the weekends by watching matches together. his main indulgence during the weekends were football games so we had time to watch the Spanish, Italian and English leagues. I had a lot more time to follow those different leagues so I had a favourite team in each one. Although you may call me a glory seeker for these teams, I picked them as a child based on favourite players and rivalries within my household between me my parents and my siblings so they just happened to be good teams and not a conscious ‘glory seeking’ decision. These days I don’t really keep up with the Italian league much but I do follow Barça games as much as I keep track of Arsenal (although if it has to come down to it, like it did champions league finals 2006, it’s always Arsenal first).

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What’s all this? A civil view of Arsenal, no sniping at Darren Bent and his tweets (though to be fair, we didn’t ask). But Jamie Currie* is Spurs daft all the same, and runs the White Hart Pain fans’ site to prove it. We found the site in the top 50 or 60 of the Soccerlinks chart, among a cluster that included Salut! Sunderland but also sales of football wallpaper and blogs promising Cristiano Ronaldo pictures, a “history of soccer shoes” and “soccer drills and soccer practices” (none of which we’ve yet got round to checking out). Let Jamie deal with the questions we did think of …

Is this the big year – at last – for Spurs? What had the wait been like?

Spurs fans think it’s the big year every year but yes in theory we should have a very good chance of a top 6 finish with a very slim chance of a top 4 finish!

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