"I hope they don`t sack Bruce, it`s taken f****** months for the Kenwyne song to take off" - Eddy Clamp, Stoke City supporter at the Oatcake fan site
"Tried to volley instead of heading it, couldn't sleep for weeks afterwards." Danny Dichio on his missed sitter in the Charlton playoff final (as explained to Rob, again at Twitter)
Well, we’ve seen commodities we never quite expected today, sensitivity and wit from Millwall supporters horrified at the notion, accurately reported, that some of their number might want to cause trouble at Upton Park come Sunday. But let us not forget our real enemies, those upstanding folk in authority whose determination to kill off the FA Cup knows no bounds. This year’s final, when some of us would have enjoyed devoting a whole day to rooting for underdog versus moneybags, was reduced to a mere morsel of an ordinary Saturday programme. Pete Sixsmith certainly didn’t forget …
I’m paraphrasing the title of a fondly remembered Jack Rosenthal play from the 70s here, but it just about sums up the negative attitude that many fans have about the great and the good who run our national game.
For the first time in my memory, they scheduled the FA Cup Final on the same weekend as Premier League fixtures. Not the odd left over fixture, but a whole programme. They needed to play the Final early so that UEFA could take possession of Wembley for the Champions League Final which takes place on the May 28.
Fair enough, you might say. So, switch any Saturday games to the Sunday and leave Cup Final day free for those who want to watch it and for those who escape to Scotland for the day.
FA Cup semi-finals weekend: we weren’t involved after our meek early exit. We now know Man City will be back at Wembley for the final, having beaten Man United. Bolton and Stoke battle it out – hardly the phrase now I’ve seen the 5-0 scoreline in City’s favour – today to decide who will be the pundits’ tip for losing finalists. We also have yet another Sunderland Premier defeat to try to forget, as we will in time. So while Pete Sixsmith sharpens his pen (and maybe knife) before delivering his Soapbox view on that one, let’s take another shameless dip into the archives, from the days when Salut! Sunderland had so few readers such postings were probably not seen at all. It did also appear in a matchday SAFC programme but if you missed it in either place, and have a soft spot for other people’s hard luck stories, read on. You’ll learn about a Big Match day out – our last appearance in an FA Cup semi-final, back in 2004 – that sticks nastily in the memory for some Sunderland supporters …
It is bad enough being dumped out of the FA Cup after reaching the semi-finals and a game against Millwall that we all expect to win.
But you know it’s not your day when you are then dumped in the mud near Derby – sorry, County fans, nothing personal about the location – on your way home.
Salut! Sunderland wanted Birmingham to go through to the FA Cup semi-finals because the Charlie Hurley link with Bolton, right at the end of his playing career, was outweighed by the combined Kevin Phillips/Jimmy Montgomery factor.
The controversy stirred by Niall Quinn over stayaway, see-it-in-the-pub supporters, quickly followed by his candid admission that Sunderland AFC are not serious Premier title challengers, set Jeremy Robson thinking. Where the thought process led him is not calculated to please those for whom English football sits at the top of the world …
The Emperor’s underpants are looking shabby.
We’ve been told the English Premier League is the best in the world.
Commentators and summarisers wax lyrical over games which barely stir the pulse. Millions of pounds are handed over with little thought for not even mediocre players who really couldn’t justify a place in the car park, let alone the starting XI.
Salut! Sunderland has absolutely nothing against the city of Manchester. We hold no grudges against Stoke or Bolton.
But choices have to be made. Sunderland’s humiliating exit at the earliest possible stage of the FA Cup means we have been able to pick our runners at will in subsequent rounds.
So to do our bit to restore interest in the ailing old competition, colours will now be nailed to the FA Cup mast.
The latest of our occasional looks back at the week just gone, with links in case you missed items the first time round and want to explore further. Click on the titles to see the postings in full …
Whatever happened to the FA Cup? Pete Sixsmith poses the question before bursting the romantic bubble enclosing Crawley Town and thanking heavens for two lowlier competitions in which not just Blyth but Gateshead, Dunston UTS and Whitley Bay are carrying the flag for the North East…
Well, there’s another Saturday gone without a Sunderland game kicking off at 3pm.
It looks like the next two at Everton and Arsenal should be at the usual time, but who can tell with Sky and ESPN?
No doubt many Sunderland fans spent their afternoons in the pub, with the approval of Niall Quinn.
This whole situation regarding folk watching on Greek or Albanian channels has been very interesting.
Yesterday’s encouraging news about David Meyler – out for 10 weeks but no new rupture to his knee ligament, which would have meant much longer or even threatened his career – is a great send-off for M Salut, who is off on holiday …
It is not often we play the Mags twice in eight days or – thinking of the way Pete Sixsmith referred to Notts Co in his lovely piece about today’s FA Cup game – the ‘Pies one week, the Mags the next.
And of course, if we stumble later today without quite falling, there may be a third game against black and whites during Monsieur Salut’s badly timed absence from Blighty and these pages. Anyone for a replay at Meadow Lane? (more…)
Some more glorious reminiscences from Pete Sixsmith, who also offers timely reassurance to anyone who took him seriously when he wondered aloud about which match to watch tomorrow …
To those who thought I was deserting the Stadium of Light for Dean Street, I say thank you for convincing me that my destiny and duty lay at Sunderland rather than Shildon. I shall be in my normal seat on Saturday watching the current crop of Lads take on the current crop of Magpies. (more…)
What a good lad Alex Rae* was and is. A “crowd-pleasing, combative midfielder”, says Wikipedia. I’d prepared the interview with Les Bradd with a sad reference to Alex not responding to a similar request to preview Sunderland’s FA Cup tie at home to Notts Co (he is the assistant manager), but still felt sure he’d get back to me. Which he did. Must have been the Salut! Sunderland Christmas card that did the trick. Here, then, are Alex’s thoughts on SAFC, Rangers, Notts Co, the game and life …
See Les Bradd interview – “the Roker Roar gave me headaches” – by clicking here
Salut! Sunderland: What memories of Sunderland were stirred when you first saw Notts County coming out of the hat to play us in the 3rd round?
I never quite got a chance to say bye to the fans when I left so this will be my first opportunity to see the supporters.
Sunderland News 24/7
Image: Peter Burgess
Image: 
Tony Hisgett
