Mid-chorus? Jake captures the Man of the Moment

Not sure what Fraizer Campbell’s is, or even what he’s doing here except that he does have musical kin. Mine is the Human League’s Don’t You Want Me? Jon Guy’s is It’s Not Unusual. James Stevenson belts out Alice Cooper’s Poison. Vince Richardson loathes karaoke but once succumbed in South Shields and offered the suitably modified Daydream Believer to wind up some Mags. Hilary has to be drunk but will do Respect or Islands in the Stream while Joan, if given flight tickets to Hong Kong and a private karaoke cabin on arrival, can get all the way through the long version of American Pie. And you? What is your karaoke song or party piece?

This week is likely to be awash with items relating to Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby. A seriously good “Who are You?” is ready to go – though it may wait until Thursday – and there are some thought-provoking musings from a Mag-supporting cousin of M Salut’s to entertain you, not to mention a slice or two of Pete Sixsmith’s magic. So for respite, I have decided to keep this piece of nonsense, the Salut! Sunderland karaoke competition, running until noon on Sunday, when the derby kicks off.

It has little or nothing to do with football. And the prize will not change anyone’s life: a Salut! Sunderland mug, as shown but with modest design refinement if it happens to be won by a non-Sunderland supporter.

The question is: what is your karaoke song and why? the best answer, as judged by Monsieur Salut, wins the mug. If you share Vincent’s view of karaoke but have a song you’re prepared to deliver at a wedding or party, that’ll do.

Don’t want to enter but want the Martin O’Neill ‘Team of all Talents’ mug? Click here: £9.50, post-free for UK buyers, from the Salut! Sunderland Shop

In the original posting, I explained why my karaoke song is the Human League’s 1980s anthem Don’t You Want Me?. A press release telling me of a tour planned later this year reminded me of the many times I have applied my dubious vocal gifts to the song, as I described at this link.

I will import the replies received so far to this posting. Add your own choice and story; if no more are received, my choice will be made from existing entries.

Join the Salut! Sunderland Facebook group – click anywhere along this line

Follow us on Twitter: @salutsunderland … click along this line

And if you want nowt to do with karaoke and just wish Salut! Sunderland would stick to football, click anywhere on this sentence for a glance at the home page – and highlights of all the most recent articles …

Monsieur Salut

West Brom is beginning to be no more than a bad memory. Not entirely true, of course, but it is time to start thinking ahead to Sunday – early in any ordinary week, but derby week (even if Newcastle United v Sunderland takes place, strictly speaking, next week) is never ordinary. John McCormick is a staunch Sunderland supporter. But it was a Mag who made the earliest impression on him – as John recalls more than half a century later, 45 years to the day after the player in question met a tragic death just a few days before an earlier Wear-Tyne encounter played on the 4th of March …

My dad worked long hours, including weekends, and I can only remember him taking me and my brother to one match.

It was at St James’ Park, which was easy to reach from home, and only a few fragments of the game have remained with me. The opponents were Leyton Orient, the score was 0-0 and when I asked my dad who a certain player was he told me it was Dick Keith.

And that, more or less, was that. NUFC didn’t stick and within a couple of years I was making the more difficult journey to Roker and following heroes such as Montgomery, Hurley and Sharkey.

Not long before he died my dad said I was nine when he took me. That sounded reasonable, but I never really knew if it was right. So, a few weeks ago, with time to kill, I decided to unleash the power of the internet and check. It didn’t take long to find that Leyton Orient and Newcastle were only in the same division for one season. The match had to have taken place on 19th August 1961, a few weeks after my 10th birthday.

But it was something else that proved poignant. Querying “Dick Keith” also brought up sites and information. It transpires that the first professional player I had asked about, and whom I had then ignored throughout my formative years, had been more than just a footballing journeyman – at least for a while.

Dick Keith was born in Belfast in 1933. His footballing talent was evident early and he played for Linfield at the age of 17. He became Ulster player of the year in 1956 and moved to Newcastle at the start of the 1956-7 season, where he made over 200 first team appearances (presumably some alongside a certain Bob Stokoe) and became club captain. He represented Northern Ireland 23 times (not “Ireland” as one of the picture cards has it; that sort of error could cause a spot of nastiness at Windsor Park – ed) and was a member of the squad that reached the quarter finals of the 1958 world cup.

However, Newcastle were relegated in 1961 and Joe Harvey, appointed manager in 1962, began an extensive rebuilding programme. Over the next three years he brought in a host of players: Bobby Moncur, Pop Robson and Sunderland’s Stan Anderson are but three whose names live on in the North East. Dick Keith was one of the squad who made room for these changes and he was sold to Bournemouth, then a third division team, in 1964.

His career appears to have continued to wane and in 1966 he moved from Bournemouth to non-league Weymouth, where he combined his playing with a job in a builder’s yard. While working there he was involved in an accident which fractured his skull. He died of his injuries on Tuesday February 28, 1967, at the age of 33.

On the Saturday after his death, March 4, Newcastle played us at Roker Park. I have no memory whatsoever of a minute’s silence or black armbands, nor can I remember Dick Keith being mentioned in the run-up to the game or afterwards.

I hope my memories are wrong. Fans always have their heroes, and every era has its legends, while the media creates and destroys personalities.

This all contributes an edge and brings excitement, and it’s an essential part of the game. But not all players become heroes or legends.

The majority drift into obscurity; some don’t even achieve financial security through a career as a professional footballer, as recent events at Darlington demonstrate. Yet these players – the Dick Keiths of football – are the backbone of our game. Irrespective of their club, they are worthy of our respect and they deserve to be remembered.

* The photographs are taken from Nigel Mercer’s fascinating Australian website, Nigel’s WebSpace, with Nigel’s knowledge.

** Nigel summarises the Dick Keith story in this brief obituary: 28/02/1967. Aged 33. Linfield, Newcastle United (208), Bournemouth (47), Weymouth (26). Won the Irish Player of the Year award (correct title – ed) in 1954. Part of the Northern Ireland team that played in the 1958 World Cup tournament. Killed in a works accident on a Bournemouth building site.

*** John McCormick on John McCormick: I was born and brought up in Birtley, went away to University in 1970 and didn’t return to the North East. I moved to Liverpool in 1975, where I married into a family of reds and worked as a teacher then a lecturer until a year ago. I very rarely go back and have only been to one match at the Stadium of Light but I still count myself as one of the faithful.

**** March 4, 1967. Sunderland (0) 3 Newcastle United (0) 0. Bobby Kerr scored twice and George Mulhall once. Attendance: 50.442.

Sixer by Jake

Pete Sixsmith cannot rewrite Saturday’s result. He cannot make it seem as if we were a little unlucky. There were no Sunderland performances of the sort that won The Artist five Oscars. In fact, Pete struggles to find anything remotely positive to say. Just sit back and try to enjoy what follows for what it is, as fine a piece of writing as you will find in any of today’s sports pages …

One of the pleasures of visiting the clutch of West Midlands clubs in the Premier League, (could be four next season – or could be one) is the opportunity to spend a couple of hours in Lichfield.

It’s a small city, about the size of Durham or Ripon, with a very impressive cathedral, a good market, some decent shops and cafes (although my favourite one has succumbed to the recession) and some mighty fine pubs.

It also has well known residents, both past and present in Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles and friend of James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood and Matthew Boulton, David Garrick, the 18th century actor, not the 60s recording star who had a minor hit with Dear Mrs Applebee, and Tony Christie of Las Vegas and Amarillo fame.

The biggest star of all was Dr Samuel Johnson, the well known acerbic wit, lexicographer and critic and memorably played by Robbie Coltrane in Blackadder 3, in the episode where Baldrick used the proof copy of his dictionary to light the fire with.

The good doctor is remembered as much for his sayings as his writings. The best known one is probably “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel” (not one that appeals to Stuart Pearce) and “When a man is tired of London (or Birmingham in Craig Gardner’s case) he is tired of life itself”. Not sure about that one; always pleased to get on the train home.

In his description of a second marriage as “a triumph of hope over experience” he touched on something that we Sunderland fans can relate to, particularly after the disappointment we felt as we were turned over at the Hawthorns on Saturday.

“To be happy at home”, said Big Sam (Johnson, not Allardyce), “is the ultimate end of all ambition”, and for Baggies fans that is a sentiment they have hardly experienced this season. They have won two home games this season and added a third, and very comprehensive one, when they demolished us.

They did this by playing us at our own game. One up front, a tight midfield and defenders who made sure that there was nowhere for their opponents to go, exactly the things we did against Arsenal last week.

See also: a damning Baggie view: “we made you look even worse than Wolves”

Our performance was as below par as you can get without being turfed off the golf course for playing like Jacques Tati. The defenders were slack, the midfield struggled throughout and playing a small man up front against big central defenders did not work.

It doesn’t help when a goal is given away three minutes in. A good cross was poorly defended and Richardson lost Odemwingie, who guided a neat header past Mignolet.

The second goal came from the same area as we stood and waited for a free kick to be given after we had fouled Thomas. Chris Foy, who had an excellent game, waved play on, Mulumbu easily beat the disappointing Bardsley and Morrison was unmarked to head in.

Changes at half time as Colback and Richardson were replaced by Bendtner and Campbell and we opened quite brightly, only for more poor defending to allow Fortune (Albion’s best player by a street) to set up that man Odemwingie to score against us yet again.

The goal came from a quick throw out by the impressive Ben Foster, which left Phil Bardsley, who had been supporting the attack, struggling to get back and looking more like the rather corpulent Dr Johnson than a super fit Premier League player.

Click here for the Martin O’Neill ‘Team of all Talents’ mug: £9.50, post-free for UK buyers, from the Salut! Sunderland Shop. NB: the mug also says the team is a ‘work in progress’!

After that, we had a 20 minute spell where we might have got a consolation goal or even maintained our record of not having lost by more than a single goal, but the Baggies finished strongly and one of the Premier League’s unsung workhorses, Keith Andrew, rounded off the scoring, as Albion did a passable impersonation of Barcelona and we did one of Shildon Sunderland Supporters FC.

A bad day at the office then and maybe Martin O’Neill has gone as far as he can with this group of 11+. They have done wonderfully well but looked tired and jaded throughout on Saturday, none more that Sessegnon, who returned from his family time in Paris looking nothing like the player who was so impressive last week. Still, a midweek game in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, should do him a world of good before next week’s derby …

Can we take any positives from this? Well, Nicklas Bendtner looked sharp when he came on, and once Wayne Bridge arrived, after a bizarre 15 minute period where McClean played left back, we looked tighter down that side.

But not much else to take from it, I’m afraid. West Brom wanted the game more than we did after their crushing of Wolves last week. Roy Hodgson prepared them well, did his homework on us and got his team to play properly at home. We were nowhere near the standards that we have set over the last three months and this was a throwback to the previous management.

Once again, some of our fans make me wonder why we bother. The mythical “Bloke Behind Me” carped on for the entire first half and, according to him, 75% of the team were “useless”, “s****” or “rubbish”. There was no acceptance of the fact that the other team might just be playing well; it was clearly our players’ and manager’s fault that we were losing.

Fortunately, he didn’t return after half time, but it looks like he took note of another of Dr Johnson’s adage, “You may scold a carpenter who has made you a bad table, though you cannot make a table. It is not your trade to make tables”.

We have a little too much of that at the moment; maybe MON may hit the wall of expectation that Steve Bruce kept banging into.

Or maybe we will be as happy as a Gooner or an Owl next Sunday.

Join the Salut! Sunderland Facebook group – click anywhere along this line

And follow us on Twitter: @salutsunderland … click along this line

Jake weeps ...

With thanks to Iain Bate, of the WBA Mad site, for permission to reproduce it, this is how an Albion fan saw his team’s demolition of Sunderland. It sets us up nicely for Pete Sixsmith’s considered view (first thing tomorrow) …

DonnyValdo gives his verdict on Albion’s win:

After making my way to Park Inn Hotel, I was informed by BedfordBaggie that it had been nearly 100 days since Albion had last won in the league (was BedfordBaggie asleep at Molineux – ed?).

In that time, the Villa have shown they are still rubbish, Mick McCarthy has started to sign on and Peter Odemwingie has thankfully found his scoring boots. So too has Roy Hodgson found the formula which made him, and us, such a success last season.

Hodgson made just one change to the massacre at the Custard Bowl, with Keith Andrews coming in for the bruised Paul Scharner. Thankfully the boss decided to stick with the 4-5-1 formation which many fans have called for.

The Baggies started with the confidence they had finished at the end of their last game – a memorable 5-1 win against Staffordshire’s second, or maybe even third, best team. It took Albion only three minutes to take the lead after Keith Andrews had won the ball doggedly inside the Sunderland box. The ball was worked back to Youssouf Mulumbu, who drilled his cross onto the forehead of the onrushing Peter Odemwingie. Albion were off to a flyer.

Keith Andrews was next to threaten with a long range drive. The Republic of Ireland international played a neat one-two with Thomas which brought him space some thirty yards out. The midfield made a clean connection with ball, but his shot was saved easily by Mignolet.

Albion were playing with a swagger and tempo reminiscent of last season. The midfielders were playing in neat triangles and creating problems for their opponents. Jerome Thomas and Odemwingie were equally as effective on the flanks cutting in. But it was from a set piece which almost doubled our advantage. Steven Reid whipped in an excellent free kick from deep; Jonas Olsson leapt highest but his looping header was collected by the keeper underneath his crossbar. It seemed only a matter of time before a second goal arrived.

Morrison then jinked inside evading two challenges, but his left foot effort was easily pushed away. However, minutes later Morrison did extend Albion’s lead. Referee Foy waved a clever advantage after a foul on Ridgewell which allowed Thomas to cross from the byline. His centre was met at the back post by Morrison who expertly headed the ball down and into the top corner.

There was still time for Albion to create another chance as the half wore on. Reid’s excellent free kick again caused havoc for the visitors with the ball bouncing around and falling kindly to Fortune. The striker swivelled but saw his goalbound volley blocked and deflected for a corner by Richardson. The half-time whistle went with Albion fans giving their side a standing ovation. The Baggies were dominant. Sunderland were lucky to be only two down. You could tell it was an excellent first half performance as the toilets were five deep!

This is how a Baggie saw it: now read Pete Sixsmith’s exquisite matchday thoughts … click anywhere in this paragraph.

After the break

It was obvious that O’Neill would’ve had a few harsh words to say. Albion had made the form side in the division look worse than Wolves. Sunderland started the half with a very offensive formation. However, as the hosts pushed for a way back into the game, the Baggies found acres of space in the middle. After Foster had saved Gardner’s long-range, swerving effort, the goalkeeper set up Albion’s third.

After collecting a corner, Foster smartly threw the ball out to Morrison. He found a willing runner in Fortune, who cut inside and crossed for Odemwingie to smash home a third. 48 minutes gone, game over.

Albion were again well on top. The quick passing and tempo meant Sunderland never had the opportunity to get near Albion’s midfield. Also, when the visitor’s did have the ball, the energy of Mulumbu, Andrews and Morrison saw the likes of Gardner and Cattermole given no time on the ball. It was a joy to watch. This was the performance we’d be hoping for at home for months.

Jerome Thomas almost capped another fine display of wing work with a fourth. The winger cut inside but saw his curling chip cannon back off the crossbar. The ball fell to Fortune, but his mis-control saw the opportunity go.

Fortune was to have his own chance when he turned John O’Shea inside and out before blasting his shot out for a throw from an acute angle. A pull-back to Morrison was later acknowledged by the striker as the better option. Nobody could blame Marco though for having a shot after again working tirelessly up front alone.

But Albion were not to be denied the fourth they deserved. The tireless Morrison again found space down the left. He cut inside and found Dorrans on the edge of the area. The Scotsman cleverly found the on rushing Andrews who curled the ball perfectly into the top corner. Fantastic.

On reflection

I honestly don’t think it’s any coincidence that Albion have found their top form after switching from a rigid 4-4-2 formation to a fluid 4-5-1. A five-man midfield allows us to play to our strengths. The midfielders can play higher up the field and run past the forwards. These runs are difficult to track and give us extra options when attacking. The players also seem to prefer this shape. Let’s hope Hodgson ends his infatuation with two rigid banks of four and let Albion’s attacking players continue their excellent form.

It sounded, from Benno and Barnes’s commentary, as bad as it got under McCarthy, Keane, Sbragia or Bruce. Martin O’Neill was left with the duty of composing his first post-match e-mail as manager of a comprehensively beaten Sunderland. See also Sixer’s Sevens: from ecstasy to embarrassment …

Click here for the Martin O’Neill ‘Team of all Talents’ mug: £9.50, post-free for UK buyers, from the Salut! Sunderland Shop

Dear Colin,

Today’s defeat was very disappointing indeed.

We were second best throughout the entire first half, which is unusual for us.

It didn’t get that much better in the second half – we did really try, we took some risks, but we were well beaten by a side who were better than us on the day.

Their early goal set the tone for the game but it shouldn’t have done.

We have come back from adversity in the past and been able to pull ourselves out of similar situations.

It was a sloppy goal for us to concede but we should have done better throughout the rest of the half; we allowed them to turn and twist and we gave them far too much time on the ball.

This time last week we were applauding ourselves for a really great effort against Arsenal in the cup and we have to keep performances like that going – we can’t afford to take rests.

We have to digest this defeat; it’s been tough to take.

It’s very difficult to criticise the players, they’ve put their heart and soul into these matches and have done very well in recent weeks. We have to keep going.

It was to our credit that we didn’t close the game up at 2-0 and just say that’s it, damage limitation – it’s not in our nature and I don’t want it to be.

All the best,

Martin O’Neill

Jake weeps ...

* See Kartun Malaysia’s Flickr images at this link

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.

We like giving West Brom two start. Pete said as the second went in that we were not at that stage “in with a shout”, and the fact is we were fortunate not to be further behind at half time. That state of affairs lasted no time once we began the second half – brightly enough, with two forwards, Campbell and Bendtner on (there’s a novelty) – and gave away a cheap third goal. “Not a great afternoon,” Pete texted wearily.

He will have plenty to say over the next 36 hours; Martin O’Neill’s verdict on the first thumping suffered all season will come rather sooner. “West Brom can score whenever they want to,” Gary Bennett moaned on BBC Radio Newcastle as he watched a rather different performance to last week’s triumph over Arsenal. “We’re a shambles … you can easily see this being five or six … it’s embarrassing.”

It reached an embarrassing 4-0. We would have settled for a WBA declaration at half time.

Jake weeps ...

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 of one who is usually there …

Feb 25 2012 West Bromwich Albion (2) 4 SAFC (0) 0 Baggies better by far as bubble bursts

Feb 18 2012 FA CUP 5th round: SAFC (1) 2 Arsenal (0) A wonderfully gritty performance brings deserved victory

Feb 11 2012 SAFC (0) 1 Arsenal (0) 2 Played well but undone by goalkeeping errors

Feb 8 2012 FA Cup 4th round replay: Middlesbrough (0) 1 SAFC (1) 2 Quality came through in rousing cup tie

Feb 4 2012 Stoke City (0) 0 SAFC (0) 1 *McClean clincher makes winter seem less bleak or (Sixer’s delayed verdict) bêtes noires beaten in Artic type conditions

Feb 1 2012 SAFC (2) 3 Norwich City (0) 0 An absolute stroll as Canaries brushed aside

Click this text: just £9.50, post free, at the Salut! Sunderland Shop

Buy the Martin O'Neill "Team of all talents" mug

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 …

This has been a week of great happiness – beating Arsenal to reach the FA Cup quarterfinals, welcoming Fraizer Campbell’s inclusion in the England squad and James McClean’s Irish call-up – and much sadness, Niall Quinn’s decision to end his links with SAFC. Oh, one more happy bit: Salut! Sunderland reached ninth, its highest ever position, in the Soccerlinks hit list (though we may have fallen by the time you click on that link) …

There was also fun. Click on the Premier League map above or to the right, depending on what sort of screen you’re on, to enlarge it. Then see how long it takes you to reach Sunderland. We wrote about it at this link and also found a club owner, in French Fancies, who makes Mike Ashley seem thin.

Click here for the Martin O’Neill ‘Team of all Talents’ mug: £9.50, post-free for UK buyers, from the Salut! Sunderland Shop

For our report on Niall Quinn’s departure, follow any of these links:

* Ten things that make Niall a hero

* A colossus departs with our heartiest thanks

Extract:

Taxis all round: he showed his true class when he called for and paid for taxis to take
Sunderland fans from Bristol to home when EasyJet refused to allow them
to board a flight because they were “boisterous” after a crucial victory at
Cardiff.. “These are our people,” he said and coughed up the fare. Can you
imagine the Glaizers, Mike Ashley, the West Ham pornographers doing that?
Thought not.

Extract

Without Drumaville there would have been no instant return to the Premier. Without Niall – and, it must be said, John Hays, his vice-chairman and the only Wearside man in the consortium, without whom dealing with Chairman Bob would have been an awful lot trickier – there would have been no Drumaville takeover. And without the revolution that followed, there would have been no Ellis Short and Martin O’Neill.

* Did disappointment at small crowds influence his decision?
Extract

… maybe Niall was becoming tired of trying to coax the armchair Sunderland fans away from their firesides and pub screens and into the Stadium of Light.

Saturday is a good case in point as little more than 22,000 of our fans made the journey to the Stadium for the most important game of the season so far. Prices were reasonable (£20 and £10), the opposition was good and the team have been playing well. But the crowd figure was awful and must have come as a bitter disappointment to those who own and run the club.

James by Jake

Sixer

From Fraizer's Facebook page

And Dave Hewitt chipped in with some excellent reminiscences in the West Brom “Who are You?”.

Extract

At Roker Park with Kevin Ball as captain last match of the season when you were promoted as champions. There was a presentation ceremony after the game and I was a photographer that day. The trophy had been placed on a table on the pitch with an Endsleigh league sign behind it. Before the presentations began a gust of wind blew down the sign which in turn knocked over the trophy. When the trophy was put into Kevin Ball’s hands and he lifted it up to the crowd, the figure that was on the top of the trophy was missing. Knocked off by the sign. Talking to Kevin years later he said he always had been blamed for the damage. I gave him a picture of the sign knocking off the trophy. I believe he has it in his office now.

Of course that wasn’t all. Eric Sweeney wrote about Wenger’s wobble as Arsenal manager and there was fuller coverage of last Saturday’s game.

Go to the home page – by clicking anywhere on this paragraph – bookmark it and then use it to visit and explore the site. All the most recent six article are highlighted and the ones before that appear in a neat row along the bottom of the landing page.

And Ha’way the Lads at the Hawthorns.

Jake again ...

Monsieur Salut

Dave Hewitt

A story I hadn’t heard before. Bears repeating, from Dave Hewitt’s answers in the West Bromwich Albion “Who are You?” ahead of tomorrow’s game at the Hawthorns. Dave is a retired teacher and sports photographer …

Dave, lifelong Baggie though he is, has lived for many years in South Shields – very close to Sunderland for the benefit of any geographically challenged West Brom supporters – which explains the question:

Salut! Sunderland: Do you have any strong memories – good, bad, funny – of seeing Sunderland in action, whether or not against WBA?

I remember going to see the two teams in the final of the Youth Cup in the late 1960s. We won 3-0 in the first leg and lost 6-0 in the second. That wasn’t good. At Roker Park with Kevin Ball as captain last match of the season when you were promoted as champions. There was a presentation ceremony after the game and I was a photographer that day. The trophy had been placed on a table on the pitch with an Endsleigh league sign behind it. Before the presentations began a gust of wind blew down the sign which in turn knocked over the trophy. When the trophy was put into Kevin Ball’s hands and he lifted it up to the crowd, the figure that was on the top of the trophy was missing. Knocked off by the sign. Talking to Kevin years later he said he always had been blamed for the damage. I gave him a picture of the sign knocking off the trophy. I believe he has it in his office now.

See the full interview at this link: http://salutsunderland.com/2012/02/30569/

Monsieur Salut

* See Amazon bargain below in footnote

Only winning at West Brom tomorrow and St James’ Park a week and a day later could be sexier than the “girl bits”, if that is not too rude a way of putting it, in Don’t You Want Me?.

You’ll have gathered I have nothing much to say today about football.

So why not run another win-a-mug competition? If a non-Sunderland supporter wins, the design will be adapted accordingly.

What is your karaoke song and why?

Mine is indeed the Human League’s Don’t You Want Me?. In fact, it may be my only one. I did try something of Dylan once but found it too high to sing along to, and me too incompetent to pitch it lower.

Human League was Phil Oakey and the two young women he “discovered” – Wikipedia quotation marks but I do recall one of those idiotic tabloid furores at the time – in the Crazy Daisy Nightclub in Sheffield: Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley. Three decades later, Joanne is still there.

I liked Human League anyway but the Joanne/Susan parts on that smash single were superb. The trick when doing it at karaoke is to get one girl or two up to take their places (or did just one of them sing, the other just there to look pretty?).

Anyone who attended folk clubs in Bishop Auckland, Darlington and beyond in days gone by will attest to my vocal limitations. Even so, people have been known to enjoy my Don’t You Want Me? …

I have dragged up colleagues, daughters, friends and strangers to stand in for Joanne and/or Susan. In Le Lavandou, France, a DJ called Rudy would call out the song title the moment I walked into the bar, even after many months without a visit. Once, when no one would volunteer or be volunteered to provide the girl bits, Rudy insisted on doing them himself.

Join the Salut! Sunderland Facebook group – click anywhere along this line

And follow us on Twitter: @salutsunderland … click along this line

There’s my embarrassing karaoke story. What’s yours?

Come up with a good story and I will send a Martin O’Neill “team of all Talents” mug (see below). M Salut’s decision is final.

Oh, and why now? Because the band’s press people wrote telling me of a tour. Do these bands never, er, disband? Bobby Vee and Del Shannon at New Shildon workingmen’s club were bad enough examples of the “won’t let go” syndrome. It’ll be Brinsley Schwarz and Brenda Lee next.

Click here for the Martin O’Neill ‘Team of all Talents’ mug: £9.50, post-free for UK buyers, from the Salut! Sunderland Shop

Here are the dates:

November

Fri 23rd BRIGHTON – Dome

Sat 24th BOURNEMOUTH – BIC

Sun 25TH CAMBRIDGE – Corn Exchange

Mon 26th LONDON – Royal Albert Hall

Wed 28TH BRISTOL – Colston Hall

Fri 30TH NOTTINGHAM – Royal Concert Hall

December

Sat 1ST HALIFAX – Victoria Theatre

Sun 2ND WOLVERHAMPTON – Civic Hall

Tue 4th SHEFFIELD – City Hall

Wed 5th GLASGOW – o2 Academy

Fri 7th NEWCASTLE – City Hall

Sat 8th MANCHESTER – Apollo

Sun 9th LINCOLN – Engine Shed

Mon 10th HATFIELD – The Forum

Box Office for all shows: 08454 134444 / www.alt-tickets.co.uk/alttickets/home_the_human_league

* See Amazon bargain below in footnote

Monsieur Salut

Pete Sixsmith enjoyed that goal, and so it seems did Stuart Pearce, that rare breed of England manager – caretaker though he may be – capable of seeing talent north of the north-west Midlands (ie Manchester and Liverpool) …

Another gem from Jake

I dashed off an email to M Salut earlier today, saying that I would do a piece of classic spleen-venting when the England squad was announced today for the friendly against The Netherlands next week.

My ire was up after I read a piece in The Guardian extolling the virtues of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the child who had spent the last two Saturdays at the Stadium of Light, firmly inside Kieran Richardson’s pocket and Tom Cleverley, who has played three games for Manchester United this season.

And what happens? Stuart bloody Pearce goes and spoils the whole thing by naming Fraizer Campbell in the squad.

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It’s a great boost for a player who could have lost his career to injuries that, 20 years ago, would have had him buying a newsagent’s shop in his home town of Huddersfield. He has worked so hard to get back and has looked sharp and lively and, most importantly, in goalscoring form.

I thought that there might have been a place for Lee Cattermole as he is the type of up and at ‘em player that Pearce loves, but it looks as if the permanently overrated Scott Parker has nabbed that place.

Jack Colback? Kieran Richardson? Craig Gardner? Michael Turner? Ryan Noble? All of them would, in the vernacular, “do a job” for Pearce and the England team, but they were left out in favour of the likes of Gareth Barry, Micah Richards, Steven “Stevie G” Gerrard, Gary Cahill and Darren B£nt. Anyone think that Cahill is any better than Turner? I don’t.

I doubt very much that Fabio Capello would have bothered with Campbell, seeing as the myopic and geographically challenged Italian multimillionaire had no idea of where Sunderland was, so well done to Stuart Pearce for taking a look at the most improved club in English football and picking one of our players.

In fact, of the five forwards selected, three of them are either current or former Sunderland players, with Danny Welbeck and the aforementioned B£nt making up the trio. Fraizer worked well with B£nt in the full season they had together and they could make an impact at international level, although the latter’s form has slipped as his club have begun to slide down the league and risk becoming relegation candidates.

Of the 22 outfield players, only Fraizer, B£nt and Leighton Baines come from clubs outside what the media regard as the top six – City, United, Spurs, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool – which doesn’t offer much of an incentive to players at other clubs to stay with them.

There are some decent players in the squad. I like Kyle Walker, the Spurs full back and think Cleverley has real potential.

However, I am a wee bit mystified to see what others see in Theo Walcott. At 22, he should be doing a lot more than he does for Arsenal, and he was probably the most disappointing of their players in the mini-saga played out on Wearside over the last two weeks. I can’t think of many at Liverpool who would have a good word to say about Stewart Downing.

But, by and large, this is a decent selection. No Lampard, no Carroll, no Mags, so I can at least offer some nominal support to the national team, although I shall be more interested in watching the action at the King George V Playing Field, where Guisborough Town are taking on the mighty Shildon.

Now, that’s proper football …