Pete Sixsmith is back from Orkney. He is pleased he went, but would lose little sleep if he never went back. Will we all be losing sleep tomorrow night? BE POSITIVE ….

I have returned. I am back at Sixsmith Towers, the several layers of clothing peeled off and the bindings to protect the outer extremities unwound – no madam, not that one!!

It would not be true to say that Orkney is the most exciting of places to visit. There are no trees. There is a lot of wind. The capital, Kirkwall, is as lively as Heighington on a Wednesday night. It’s not a place where the jet set hang out – so The Brucester may well consider it as a place to retire when the curtain falls on his managerial career at The Stadium of Light – May at the latest.

The good news for him is that there is a potential job there. The Orcadians have a football game that takes place at Christmas and New Year called The ‘Ba. The competing teams, Uppies and Doonies, chase around aimlessly after a ball, pushing and shoving and the object is to stop the other team from scoring and try to grab one yourself.

Any of us who have watched games this season can see a remarkable similarity between Bruce’s tactics, Lee Cattermole’s performances and the general poor quality of the football we have been treated to.

However, there is no opportunity for the manager of the Uppies and Doonies to play players completely out of position, sign them and never give them a start or create such a defensive mindset that a goal and a win is improbable, so maybe it’s not the career change that would suit his unique talents.

I had several conversations about the game and SAFC while there. The excellent barman in The Shore (a fine pint of Highland Scapa Special) thought that Bruce was a decent manager and would sort it out. He was an Aberdeen/Manchester United fan, so was clearly biased what with us having Eric Black, a folk hero in these parts, as well.

He kindly allowed me to watch the City v Villarreal game in preference to United’s canter in Romania and proved to be a perceptive analyst with his highly amusing comments on Gareth Barry, a player he regarded as not good enough for Highland League Wick Academy – so SB probably has him lined up for January.

The taxi driver who took me from Inverness to Thurso, courtesy of East Coast Trains ( the Edinburgh train broke down in the tunnels going into Waverley and the subsequent delays meant I missed my connection in Inverness; cost to EC and taxpayer an eye watering £250) also thought that Bruce was ok and that we would soon improve. He was such a lovely guy that I hadn’t the heart to tell him that he was probably talking b*******.

So, he does have some supporters, albeit a long way from the North East. Lose tomorrow and even the barman and the taxi driver will be losing faith in him.

* See also: http://salutsunderland.com/2011/10/bruce-search-for-a-safe-haven-leads-to-orkney/

Before each Sunderland game, a fan of the opposing side previews the match. Sometimes it is an uphill struggle to find one supporter willing to do it; other weeks we end up with two or three and feel dutybound to use them all. Now for the limited payback: our annual awards for the best of them (and read on if you want to take part in the 2010-11 season) …

Salut! Sunderland announces its second annual Who Are You? competition, in which we honour fans of other clubs who have contributed the best answers to the questions we set ahead of each game.

Last season, the first prize went to Bernard Ramsdale, landlord – gaffer- of Ye Olde Tree and Crown, the brilliant Wigan Athletic fan site.

Bernard won a copy of the customised Wigan Athletic book, kindly donated by Getting Personal and shown above.

Our runner-up was Julian Boodell, a lifelong supporter of Stoke City and in third place came Mark Collar, the only shortlisted candidate from outside the Premier League (he previewed a league cup game at Nottingham Forest).

A special additional prize went to Danny Warbrick, a Bolton Wanderers fan who was only 16 when he wrote for Salut! Sunderland and demonstrated what we described as “exceptional maturity”.

There has been no decline in quality this season. Although we no longer invite each contributor to write an introductory article, the answers to our questions have frequently shown wit, wisdom and passion in generous measures.

Having said when originally posting this article that the exact nature of the prizes had yet to be determined, I can reveal already that they will include $200 to spend with soccerpro.com, an American company that markets what it calls soccer jerseys and appropriately, since thoughts will soon be turning to South Africa, World Cup soccer jerseys .

We think they mean football tops. And they’ll undoubtedly have other things to choose from and are hugely welcome to our little group of competition sponsors.

The names of our judges will also appear here soon. We now have two games left and of these, only one will qualify for consideration in the competition (a Manchester United fan’s look at our final home game a week on Sunday).

The season finishes for us at Wolves but the man answering our questions before that game will be ineligible for inclusion in the awards – for a reason to be disclosed in due course – as will any previous contributor who works predominantly or extensively as a writer (apologies, then, to Alastair Campbell, who already has to bear the cross of supporting Burnley; one of our Spurs previewers, my colleague David Sapsted, and anyone else I have overlooked).

Watch this space for further news. And if any non-Sunderland fan has strayed here and feels like offering to take part in next season’s Who are You? features, please make yourself known in the comments field or by contacting me at the e-mail link to your left.

Colin Randall

* NB: a recent deluge of spam means comments from people who have not been this way and posted before will have to await moderation. Sorry.

Thirty hours ago, Pete Sixsmith were discussing whether we had a clear shared viewpoint on Steve Bruce. Should we, without actually seeking his dismissal, withdraw the support we’ve given him so far? Should there be a good cop/bad cop debate between us on these pages? One home win against Bolton and life seems altogether different, as Pete declares before pausing for more rational thought …

The gloom has lifted. The light shines brightly. The route to European qualification is ahead and I can see clearly now the rain has gone.

Well, not quite. It was a very important result, a much improved performance and a huge relief, but let’s not carried away.

We beat a side whose defending at times was woeful, who were incapable of having a shot on target and who could not keep 11 players on the field, despite Steve Bennett’s best efforts to emasculate our skipper.

We still showed hesitancy at the back, the midfield was better but still not firing on all four cylinders and the forwards did miss some chances, but, as they almost say at the end of Some Like It Hot, nothing’s perfect. To say that this was a vast improvement on the rubbish served up recently is like comparing Clement Attlee’s Labour Government with the rag bag administration we have now.

Steve Bruce will have gone into his meeting with Ellis Short knowing that the players can be motivated, can perform well and do want to achieve at Sunderland.

The outpouring of joy and relief as Bent’s penalty put the result beyond doubt showed that the crowd want success and also want to see decent football – and last night we got both.

We have one centre forward who is a genuine goalscorer and another who is a natural provider. Both played very well. Bent’s ability was shown by his first and third goals where he took delivery of excellent passes from Cattermole and Campbell to take a step away from his defender and fire home shots that beat the keeper low down. Quality!!

Kenwyne had an equally good game, winning numerous balls in the air, both up front and when defending corners. If he does move on in the summer, our team will be all the poorer without him.

For the first time since David Cameron had a comfortable lead in the opinion polls, our midfield actually created something. That we did was due to our Gauloise-inhaling, curfew-breaking Franco/Belgian midfielder, Steed, who overcame his spat with the Brucester to turn in a tremendous performance on the left. He weaved and burrowed his way through the Wanderers defence on numerous occasions and gave us what we have been missing for weeks – creativity and imagination. Great stuff.

Cana also looked much more settled, despite a harsh booking from Steve Bennett, who was reaching for his pocket even before Lorik had completed his tackle. That triggers a two-game ban and he will be missed and, although we may be able to get Reid into the centre of midfield on Sunday. I would implore Bruce leave Steed where he is!!

Defensively, we looked sound. Mensah is a pleasure to watch and Turner is effective. Big Bad Bully Boy Davies got no change out of them, while Elmander did as passable impersonation of Rada Prica as you are likely to see. Swedish centre forwards (other than Henrik Larsson) should be avoided at all costs. Remember Thomas Brolin …

I did like Lee and Wilshere – either would be an asset in our team, although you could tell Wilshere was from Arsène’s Academy as he just refused to shoot when he had the chance: one excellent run across the goal should have brought much more than it did.

It was a lovely feeling to micturate merrily in the Gents’ post-game. There was a hum of contentment as we walked down to the car, mixed with realism. The vast majority of us (like most fans) are realists and we know that this is not the beginning of a push for the Europa League. We may well crash and burn on Sunday, but at least we know that we can be top of the Relegation League – and that’s a league that isn’t sponsored by Coca Cola.

Beating fellow strugglers is a start, not a transformation. But Sunderland fans can allow themselves a huge sigh of relief this morning – and dare to hope that the corner has been turned at last …

Salut! Sunderland is tucking into some humble pie with nothing short of relish.

We demanded nothing less than a win and got one. We hoped the victory would be convincing and it was – see this link. We admitted for the first time that yet another failure, even a draw, would raise questions about Steve Bruce’s managership. And that failure didn’t materialise.

Well, one thumping win does not mean everything is fine. There remains much to do. Our fear was that if it didn’t come last night, against the only team we’ve managed to beat away from home, it was hard to see where it might come at all.

The team delivered. Bruce is entitled to take credit for winning displays just as he has to accept the brickbats for the woeful performances we have seen all too often this season.

Pete Sixsmith will have plenty to say in his match report, which is keenly awaited.

For now, it is enough to salute a highly impressive result, applaud Fraizer Campbell for getting the victory on its way and so early, admire Darren Bent for producing a hat-trick just when it was most needed and recognise Bruce’s right to feel the vindication starts here.

Colin Randall

Over the weekend we brought you the happy tale of the Toronto-based Sunderland supporter who travelled all the way from Canada to find “Britain Closed” signs up everywhere. Having missed out on SAFC v Bolton Wanderers, she managed to get a ticket for the sell-out game at Chelsea this Saturday. Here’s a follow-up from the North-eastern press …

Salut! Sunderland is indebted to The Northern Echo‘s Andy Richardson, who has caught up splendidly with our story of the Canadian SAFC fan promised a seat at Stamford Bridge this Saturday after being robbed by the weather of the game she’d planned to attend.

Andy informs us that the supporter is 39-year-old Sarah Harriman and that it was indeed a call to BBC’s Radio 5 Live’s 606 programme that led to the offer of a ticket for the Chelsea match.

Displaying impressive grasp of footballspeak, Sarah apparently told the 606 presenter Alan Green: “I was absolutely gutted. I just wanted to see my lads play.”

The Chelsea fan who came to Sarah’s rescue from a football-free 5,400-mile round trip was one Pat from Hampshire. Pat’s husband couldn’t go to the game and she offered Sarah his seat.

Sarah, whose attachment to Sunderland is a relatively recent phenomenon, having started with Roy keane’s appointment as manager, is naturally accustomed to life in a country that takes snow in its stride instead of regarding each falling flake as a threat to all mobility and activity.

But she wasn;t surprised our Bolton tie was postponed, telling the Echo: “I was caught in some snow on Thursday night walking back to my guesthouse in Roker so I knew that the game might not go ahead.

“But I have still enjoyed my trip. This is a beautiful part of England.”

Is it too much to hope for that she also enjoys her visit to Stamford Bridge, including the result?

Sunderland v Bolton is off, the only consolation that it was postponed early enough to stop people travelling. But in times of dire shortages of grit for the roads, are we losing ours as a country? …

The answer is probably not, at least not on the basis of a football match being called off. We haven’t necessarily become a nation of wannies.

But I cannot help thinking how we managed in the past.

The news came not long after I had written this at the Blackcats list:

To which Mick replied:

I remember The Big One in 1963, when the snow lasted for 2 months. I also did a paper round in all weathers (including New Year’s Day, which wasn’t a Bank Holiday until the mid-70′s).

And I also remember seeing games played on snow. It couldn’t have been deep, but they scratched out the markings and played on a white pitch. I’ve seen this at both Roker Park and St. James. I also have a vivid memory of seeing it on telly for a European Cup game between Spurs and (I think) Dukla Prague, which would make it 61-62 season (Spurs were champs in 61). Like with your first memories of games under floodlights, there’s something magic about watching a game on a snow covered pitch. It loooks great in white

But I suppose we cannot challenge the judgement of those who had to make the decision.

After a second meeting of the “safety advisory group” today, the club said severe concern had been expressed for the safety of supporters, staff and essential personnel travelling to the Stadium of Light, adding: “Many roads across the region are in a dangerous condition and there are major difficulties with the general transport infrastructure.”

Sunderland AFC’s chief executive Steve Walton said: “Whilst the Stadium of Light pitch is playable at present and the Stadium itself is also safe we must defer to the expertise of the Safety Advisory Group regarding other factors such as travel conditions.

“The consensus of the group is that it would present a significant safety risk to go ahead with the game and we are in full support of that judgement. There can be no compromise when the safety of supporters, staff and other personnel is at stake.”

Just forgive me for remaining ever so slightly sceptical.

So poor Chris Mann wasted his time previewing the game for us from a Bolton perspective. It was a good read, so apologies to him, but we hope he’ll understand that we trust the rearranged game means three points waiting for us later in the season.

Colin Randall