The football blog for fans of all clubs
The FA yesterday announced that Callum McManaman would not face an FA charge over his challenge on Massadio Haïdara at the weekend, following the daily replays and image stills in the media. Whilst some fans have expressed their outrage, the decision should have come as no surprise, as the FA aren’t about to break their own rules […]
Luis Suarez was banned for 8 games last season after the FA found him guilty of racial abuse after he referred to Patrice Evra as “negro” during an argument. Suarez failed to convince the FA panel that he was using the term in a friendly way, given the pair of them were clearly at loggerheads at […]
Much was made of the revelation that England players used Pro Plus during the 1-1 draw with Poland in October once again brought on the age old debate regarding supplements within football. Understandably, the officiating bodies take a hard stance on the use of performance enhancing drugs – you only have to look at the […]
Following Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s exploits against England last week, Jamie Redknapp’s comment in the Daily Mail, “last night, the world woke up to the mighty Zlatan’ bemused fans of the game.” Err; most of the world knew what Ibrahimovic is capable of. This comment sums up the British football journalists’ ignorant and petty attitude towards foreign […]
This year I have bought two poppies. One went straight into the lapel of my replica 1937 Sunderland top for the Aston Villa game. The second was purchased when I was realised it was still there (on the shirt, in a cupboard). One of them will be worn with special pride today. Not everyone takes […]
Following Sunday’s match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, it emerged that the home team had made an allegation against referee Mark Clattenburg. As time went by, reports revealed that Chelsea were claiming Clattenburg called John Obi Mikel a “monkey” and Juan Mata a “Spanish twat”. However, these players didn’t hear this on […]
Blind loyalty is for the blind, so I keep getting told by Tottenham supporters that don’t believe in turning up and singing your heart out for the team no matter what. A rationalisation that if the team or players are not performing well or the coach is not fulfilling the clubs potential – then turning […]
365 days ago, Manchester City went to Old Trafford and battered their greatest rivals 6-1 on their own ground. It was a stunning performance; one which buried the memories of so many past disappointments and saw City’s title challenge suddenly become serious. Our new, all-out-attacking philosophy was being justified as we sat 5 points clear […]
The good ship England football team is in ‘there be dragons territory‘. The old certainties of the Golden Generation are being shredded – Terry is gone, Ferdinand is in the wilderness, Lampard is increasingly a side-lined figure. Gerrard, in the twilight of his international career, is finally playing where he’d like to play. The sad […]
Salut! Sunderland is full of admiration for so much that SAFC does: community involvement, combat against racism, incentives for young supporters, encouragement to players to get out into areas of everyday life where their presence will bring smiles to faces. So it pains Colin Randall to have to bring you this wretched tale … The […]
As a fan of FC Bayern Munich and the German Bundesliga, I always support Die Nationalef von Deutschland in international competitions. And, of course, as a proud and patriotic American, I also root for team USA. But ahead of the 2014 World Cup, there is so much great international football going on that it feels […]
In the summer of 2008, instead of basking in the glory of being Champions of England again and winning the European Cup for the third time, Manchester United fans were forced to spend 3 months hanging on every word of one man. The fragile little Orchid that is Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite the fact that he […]
Boo. Boooooooooo. The act of booing is a childish one. You see booing on Jerry Springer or Jeremy Kyle, or in the playground at primary school. Grown adults, sometimes thousands of adults in unison, getting together to go ‘booooooo’ when the referee makes a decision you disagree with is fairly stupid when you think about […]
It won’t have escaped many people’s attention that there is something of a circus going on at Blackburn Rovers Football Club. Not an actual and literal circus of course, we’re a little short of elephants, ringmasters and trapeze artists for that sort of extravaganza. Although we’ve certainly got enough clowns for one. And we’d probably […]
The other night, Sky News promoted their upcoming sports headlines with footage of Wayne Rooney’s infamous sweary episode in East London juxtaposed with a demure Jesssica Ennis bashfully waving at adoring crowds in Sheffield. What it lacked in subtlety, it more than made up for in bandwagon jumping; footballers bad, Olympians good. The groundswell of […]
The thoughts of Robert Simmons, our Voice of America, and the fellow-American supporters who made themselves known after his most recent article, prompted Colin Randall to raid the Salut! Sunderland archives for a piece, now slightly updated, describing his True Supporter Test… Like the look of Chelsea? Gasp in admiration at Man United’s trophy cupboard […]
The blogger from Chelsea Daft wrote an article attempting to answer why people hate Chelsea. Whilst the main points were a jumbled mess of reasons why he personally wasn’t a glory supporter and how all Chelsea have done is mimic the spending of other clubs (obviously ignoring this), he struggled to produce even a semi […]
‘Player Power’ seems to be at its peak. We’re starting to hear more and more stories about players refusing to play, going against their contract, to try and force something, the majority to get a move out of the club. This makes you ask the question, is there any loyalty left in the game? Or […]
Jack Rodwell signed for Manchester City on a five-year-deal last weekend for £12m-£18m, depending on which newspaper you read. The transfer had been kept out of the press so whilst it came as no real surprise that Rodwell had left Everton, with him being linked to the top clubs for several years, the timing and […]
Nobody turns failure into fuel like Sir Alex Ferguson. His response to a trophyless season is usually pretty uncomplicated: he just goes round collecting trophies like a giddy old broad in a supermarket sweep. Since his breakthrough in 1990, Ferguson has only failed to win something in five out of 22 seasons. His immediate response […]