Salut! Sunderland 2

The Salut! Sunderland Shop; the Classic R&W Mug (UK)

Welcome at last to the Salut! Sunderland shop. If you are intending to purchase from any country outside the UK, please go to the Salut! Sunderland Shop's Worldwide Branch by clicking on this link.

The idea is to try to put the time-consuming matter of running Salut! Sunderland on a viable basis, offsetting the costs and enabling more time to be devoted to making it as good a place as possible for SAFC supporters (and the many non-SAFC fans we attract) to visit on the internet.

Who knows? There may even be enough to start slipping a little beer money Pete Sixsmith's way in recognition of all the hard work he puts in for the site.

We will start modestly, with a few selected products and see how it goes. To keep costs and prices down, I need 10 buyers for any item - or, of course, one buying 10! - before I place the order. This ensures a bulk discount without which, for the scheme to have any point, the purchase price would have to be higher.

Once each batch of 10 is secured, I will in turn place the order for the suppliers to despatch. Postage in the UK is free. Varying rates apply for Ireland and overseas and I will add separate buttons for such purchasers as soon as possible.

I hope Salut! Sunderland's big army of readers will see this as a fair way of making the site pay its own way, at the time bringing them small, reasonably priced objects reflecting their passion for the club.

Other objects will follow but as a trial run, and possibly pending the launch of a more better order/payment system, I am offering the following tea/coffee mugs at an introductory price of £9.50 each, reduced from the original £11, with discounts if you order two, four or six:

The Classic Salut! Sunderland Mug I: The text reads: Salut! Sunderland - A Site Better

Quantity of Mugs

One Mug £9.50 GBP Two Mugs £18.00 GBP Four Mugs £34.00 GBP Six Mugs £50.00 GBP

And

The Classic Salut! Sunderland Mug II. The text, reflecting our recent readership milestone, reads: Salut! Sunderland - A Million Fans Can't Be Wrong

Again, whatever payment method you choose Paypal, card or bank account - use this Paypal button for the Classic Salut! Sunderland Mug II:

Quantity of Mugs

One Mug £9.50Two Mugs £18.00Four Mugs £34.00Six Mugs £50.00

Please support Salut! Sunderland if you can - and if the mugs appeal to you. Let us know what other items might seem worth introducing and Ha'way the Lads.

Salut! Sunderland: the way it is. Comments archive

Here, in rough and ready form, is the running archive of comments posted to the The Way It Is Feature at Salut! Sunderland. It will be updated each time we decide the number of comments has reached an unmanageable level and needs a cull and will appear here ...

Salut! Sunderland, a SAFC site to behold, can be found ....

.... by clicking anywhere along this line

Scroll down or click this line for products from the Salut! Sunderland Shop

Salut! Sunderland Shop: the Classic R&W Mug (Worldwide)

Welcome at last to the Salut! Sunderland shop. This is the Worldwide branch; if you are in the UK, please CLICK HERE to reach the main shop.

The only difference is that the prices for overseas buyers is, I am afraid, higher to reflect the postal charges required by the suppliers. Otherwise, what follows is a repeat of what appears on the main page: ...

The idea is to try to put the time-consuming matter of running Salut! Sunderland on a viable basis, offsetting the costs and enabling more time to be devoted to making it as good a place as possible for SAFC supporters (and the many non-SAFC fans we attract) to visit on the internet.

Who knows? There may even be enough to start slipping a little beer money Pete Sixsmith's way in recognition of all the hard work he puts in for the site.

We will start modestly, with a few selected products and see how it goes. To keep costs and prices down, I need 10 buyers for any item - or, of course, one buying 10! - before I place the order. This ensures a bulk discount without which, for the scheme to have any point, the purchase price would have to be higher.

Once each batch of 10 is secured, I will in turn place the order for the suppliers to despatch. Postage in the UK is free. Varying rates apply for Ireland and overseas and I will add separate buttons for such purchasers as soon as possible.

I hope Salut! Sunderland's big army of readers will see this as a fair way of making the site pay its own way, at the time bringing them small, reasonably priced objects reflecting their passion for the club.

Other objects will follow but as a trial run, and possibly pending the launch of a more better order/payment system, I am offering the following tea/coffee mugs at an introductory price of £9.50 each, reduced from the original price of £11 after I saw the mug I'd bought, liked it but decided it was pitched too high. Discounts apply if you order two, four or six:

The Classic Salut! Sunderland Mug I: The text reads: Salut! Sunderland - A Site Better

** Option One: for buyers in an EU country outside the UK, please use this Paypal button whether you are paying with your credit/debit card, bank account or via Paypal itself. The postal charge shows as nil because I have added it in each case to the purchase price:

Quantity of Mugs

One Mug £12.50Two Mugs £22.00Four Mugs £42.00Six Mugs £60.00

** Option Two: for buyers in any other (ie non-EU) country outside the UK, please use this Paypal button whether you are paying with your credit/debit card, bank account or via Paypal itself. The postal charge shows as nil because I have added it in each case to the purchase price:

Quantity of Mugs

One Mug £14.00Two Mugs £25.00Four Mugs £48.00Six Mugs £69.00

And

The Classic Salut! Sunderland Mug II. The text, reflecting our recent readership milestone, reads: Salut! Sunderland - A Million Fans Can't Be Wrong

** Option One: for buyers in an EU country outside the UK, please use this Paypal button whether you are paying with your credit/debit card, bank account or via Paypal itself. The postal charge shows as nil because I have added it in each case to the purchase price:

Quantity of Mugs

One Mug £12.50Two Mugs £22.00Four Mugs £42.00Six Mugs £60.00

** Option Two: for buyers in any other (ie non-EU) country outside the UK, please use this Paypal button whether you are paying with your credit/debit card, bank account or via Paypal itself. The postal charge shows as nil because I have added it in each case to the purchase price:

Quantity of Mugs

One Mug £14.00Two Mugs £25.00Four Mugs £48.00Six Mugs £69.00

Please support Salut! Sunderland if you can - and if the mugs appeal to you. Let us know what other items might seem worth introducing and Ha'way the Lads.

The Salut! Sunderland Shoulder and Photo Bags

Just two more ideas for nifty gifts.

Get this shoulder bag for just £17, and it is post-free if you are having it delivered to an address in the UK. The dropdown menu in the payment facility adds the postage costs if you are ordering for other EU countries or the rest of the world.

Or this denim photo bag, just added to the Salut! Sunderland collection ...

And if there is any product you'd like to see, or any slogan you'd be proud to display, let us know ... navigate this site and click on the item that interests you from this list of what is already on sale at the Salut! Sunderland Shop ...

* T-shirts
* Pens
* Mugs
* Computer mouse

This is the payment button facility for the shoulder bag. use the dropdown options to get the right price according to postage (free in the UK) ...

Mouse

1 Bag (UK) £17.00 2 Bag (EU) £20.00 3 Bag (ROW) £24.50

The photo of the denim photo bag does it no justice. This is the description:

... measures 20 x 20 x 6 cm with a removable front flap, a zip, an internal pocket and adjustable straps.

And this is the payment button ...

Denim Photo Bag

1 Bag (UK) £13.50 2 Bag (EU) £17.00 3 Bag (ROW) £18.00

As always, let me know - comment here would do the trick or write to me at [email protected] - any feedback regarding the products.

Salut! Sunderland Shop: engraved pen

STOP PRESS:
Enjoy looking at the pen but, for now, it has been removed from sale while Monsieur Salut reconsiders pricing. The lower price that I introduced (£2) turns out to have been based on a limited offer; I was innocently misled by the suppliers into believing otherwise but the correct wholesale price for me, which would force me to charge at least £5 per pen, is too high. I have bought some, and like them, but a fiver is excessive. Watch this space and scroll up and down for other items ...

The Salut! Sunderland mouse pad

Here's the latest addition to the Salut! Sunderland shop shelves: the mouse pad for your computer, weighing in at just £7.50 - post-free if you're in the UK - with discounts if you buy more than one. Scroll down to order.

If you want other Salut! Sunderland products, find:

* T-shirts here

* Mugs here

Here are the options for buying the mouse pad:

1: UK orders

Mouse

1 £7.50 2 £14.00 3 £19.50 4 £26.00

2: European Union (but outside the UK) orders. Postage included in prices:

Mouse

1 £10.50 2 £19.00 3 £26.50 4 £35.00

3: Rest of World orders (postage charges, over which Salut! Sunderland has no control, have been included in the prices:

Mouse

1 £12.00 2 £21.50 3 £30.00 4 £39.50

Salut! Sunderland shop - our first T-shirts

Scroll down for news of other products - the mugs and pens - but here's something new ...

This is the first Salut! Sunderland T-shirt.

More and more items will be added as time permits and demand justifies. We quite like this one - a fuller image will appear as soon as I can get one - but the aim is to make them better as we go along (and in line with any good suggestions from readers).

Roy Keane interview in the Irish Times

In Salut! Sunderland's humble opinion, The Irish Times is one of the finest daily newspapers in the UK and Ireland. Fittingly, they got the big interview with Keano. Here it is:

ROY KEANE INTERVIEW: He’ll be back. Football is in his blood.

 TOM HUMPHRIES hears the true story of what what was going on behind the scenes on Wearside and what the future may hold

HE FLICKED the button on the car phone speaker and killed the call. When the road offered him a decent chance to do so he spun the car around and pointed it the other way. He made another call and kept on driving. Home was empty when he got there. No Theresa. No kids. He had a cup of tea and waited. He doesn’t remember how long it took, but he remembers looking out the window and seeing the journalists gathering at the gate.

It had been done.

He learned three days later that he could have had them moved on. They stood on the neighbours’ walls and blocked the road. They wanted one thing. They wanted a few quotes, certainly, but mainly they wanted a picture of Roy Keane walking the dog.

He looked out the front door one day and the flashbulbs popped. Makes you look like a criminal looking out your own front door.

Salut?, SuperKev and Birmingham City: the correspondence

Here is the e-mail exchange that passed between Salut! Sunderland and Birmingham City's press office concerning our request for the briefest of e-mail interviews with Kevin Phillips:

Sept 13 2008. Salut! Sunderland to club

Hello (sorry, but I do not have the press/media officer's name),

I am a British journalist working in Abu Dhabi, where I have been helping to launch the new English language daily, The National, but also run - as a labour of love - my own small Sunderland AFC-related website at http://salutsunderland.com
I am a huge admirer of Kevin Phillips and will always look on him as one of the Sunderland players to have given me most pleasure in what is now approaching half a century as a supporter.
My request is simple, and I'd greatly appreciate if you could at least run it by him: would he be willing to do a very quick Q&A interview by e-mail (phone is fine by me but e-mail may be more appropriate given the distance/time difference) which I could publish a few days before either the Aston Villa v Sunderland game (Sept 27) or the Sunderland v Arsenal tie a week later.
I would supply the 10 questions and he could answer in whatever fashion and at whatever length he chose. There would naturally be nothing inflammatory about the nature of any of the questions.
The choice of games relates 1) to another of his clubs (Villa) and 2) to the team he supported as a boy (Arsenal).
I hope you and he will feel that this is something he could do. I would be happy to make a nominal donation to a charity of his choice (the site does not make money, but its costs are offset slightly by advertising, which I have just started to attract, and I could reserve say one month's income from that, 50 euros, for such a purpose).
Thanks for your attention and good luck for the season ahead.
Regards
Colin Randall

Oct 1/2: Phone call to Birmingham City press office confirms receipt of the e-mail. Someone says that although it is now too late for the games mentioned, the request will be considered for appropriate fixtures later in the season. She does not offer great encouragement that the answer will be Yes.

Oct 3 2008. Club to Salut! Sunderland

Hi Colin,

Great to hear from you, and I hope all is going well for you out there.Unfortunately we will not be able to grant you a Kevin Phillips interview as we have a policy of retaining the players’ services for official club mediums first and foremost and then other media requests. Sadly we are not able to accommodate requests from fans’ sites.I do hope you understand and am sorry we’re unable to help on this occasion.

Kind regards,

Chris</em>

Oct 3. Salut! Sunderland to club:

Club policy is club policy and no hard feelings. But it never fails to astonish me how clubs are perfectly happy to take a great deal from fans without always giving an awful lot back; my own club blithely took and used a full page, professionally written - and free! -  feature for a matchday programme and only then said it would deny me even a tiny footnote linking to my site, something a fans' site/fanzine would never dream of doing.I suppose one way of looking at it is to see the gap between club and supporters (all supporters) getting wider. The very minor tragedy - ok, that's too strong, disappointing aspect is better - of the Kevin Phillips one is that he knows how much he is still revered by the vast majority of fans for what he achieved at Sunderland, and would probably have been quite willing to take what, 15 minutes to answer 10 questions.

But I say all that without any personal rancour and appreciate your courteous reply.

best

colin

Club versus country: an easy home win

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Welcome to an overspill site for Salut! Sunderland, a place to put longer files that some but not all people may wish to see. In addition, where the Who Are They? feature includes more than one article, the "overmatter" will - in time - have a link to here from the sub-category list in the main site's sidebar. The following is a very long - chapter length - expansion of my oft-argued reasons for placing passion for my football club some miles ahead of anything I feel for the national side. It was written for the Sunderand fanzine A Love Supreme's book More 24 Hour SAFC People, published in late 2007 and my share of the proceeds has been donated to charity

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Looking back, it was as golden an opportunity as Daniel Dichio's sitter in the Wembley playoff final against Charlton, or indeed the chance of his at Upton Park that would, if converted, have put us top of the Premiership. And I missed mine just as glaringly as Danny had missed his.

 

In one of the love letters that passed between us long ago, Joelle, then my wife-to-be, wrote that she could think of only one fault in me that she would change. I smoked too much. She might have added others: permanently broke, holes in my socks and underpants, coming from Shildon, being lousy at her native language, French. She has certainly added plenty since and while the French has improved, there isn't much I can do about coming from Shildon. But back then, it was the fags that concerned her. If only I would cut down, she wrote to me from Le Mans, her home town, she would in return do anything I asked of her.

 

Talk about open goals. There it was, my cue to secure a lifetime of pass-outs to watch Sunderland !