Fan Letters: "Are Sunderland giving season ticket holders a fair shake?"

Today at 02:00 AM

RR reader Gaz Baker feels that the caveats attached to 2025/2026 season tickets aren't entirely fair and may risk alienating supporters — what do you think? Email us! RokerReport@yahoo.co.uk

Dear Roker Report,

I'd be shocked if I'm alone in writing about the newly decreed '70% attendance threat' placed on season card holders that the club have slipped into the recent renewal communications, and I'd be even more surprised if I was the only one stunned by it!

This season is my twenty fifth consecutive year as a season card holder.

I think it's a shocking move by the club; to dictate to people that have parted with their hard earned cash (when times are tough for a lot of supporters, I might add) how often they must attend games or face having loyalty points revoked and even season cards cancelled!

Given how few Saturday 3:00pm kick offs we've had at home this season — I believe that at the time of writing, over half of our home games have been chosen for some form of television coverage — this decision risks alienating a fair portion of our fan base.

Has any consideration been given to parents of young children who may be unable to attend night matches? How about 12:30 Saturday kick offs, which clash with the Russell Foster youth league fixtures and of which so many of the young players are massive Lads fans and season card holders?

That's not to even mention the Nissan workers (a company that employs a huge amount of workers in our city and region) who work a two or three shift pattern and for whom night games and 12:30 Saturday kick offs are pure pot luck, depending on the rota.

This doesn't even take into consideration people's general personal circumstances, as health and so many other things can change over the course of a season.

The alternative of forwarding a ticket on for use by someone else isn't actually that straightforward either.

We have a family member who has a corporate box through their business, and we've made use of this hospitality several times this season. This has left four season cards spare and on many of those occasions, these tickets have gone to waste as we can't even give them away to friends or family for free!

Finally, the last time I checked, we didn't have a waiting list for season cards and we rarely sell out home games, so this decision could only be justified if fans were banging the club's door down to get into the stadium every week!

Whilst this won't be a problem for most people (myself included) I just feel it's way out of line with the best interests of the common fan and a real slap in the face to many of us who've supported the Lads through some very tough times recently!

GazBaker

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Gaz. Thank you for your letter.

Whilst I agree with many of the points you've made and that it's absolutely paramount that the club doesn't make moves that may damage its relationship with the fans, at the time of writing this reply, they've released a statement offering further details on this particular policy and which may provide a little more clarity.

I've included a link to it which you can find here, and we'd love to get your thoughts on this latest development and whether it's changed your views on the season card policy — a topic that's sure to divide opinion as we enter the renewal period.

Hope to hear from you again soon.

Dear Roker Report,

Having sat through a mundane and lacklustre performance against Preston, I'm going to say what I know the vast majority of fans are thinking yet blind hope and optimism prevents them from actually saying: we're simply not good enough.

We've missed another opportunity to close the gap on those above us. Our play is too tippy-tappy; there's no real grit and we have far too many players who only seem to shine when the sun is out.

We need to face facts here: even if we somehow manage to go up, we'll fall through the trapdoor unless we have a major injection of cash. We struggle against teams such as Cardiff and Preston, so what hope is there against the big boys?

This isn't a knee jerk reaction from the Preston game and of course I would've taken fourth in the table at the start of the season, but we need to be brutally honest. We don't have the ability to turn it on enough in this league over a season, so God help us if we do go up.

Every Sunderland supporter dreams of really mixing it up there but we're nowhere near making that step up. The Preston game was always going to end as such and I actually viewed it as a point won and not two points lost. It's in the players' DNA to continually play well below par just after they've raised our expectations.

We're crying out for someone in midfield with grit and I don't mean our injured superstar.

I've followed this club since the late 1960's and the theme has almost always been the same (apart from under Peter Reid): to give us hope and then fall flat. It simply isn't good enough for such loyal fans.

One of the players will now trot out the same garbage about how they let us down etc, etc, but words are cheap and meaningless. We need steel in this team and they need sorting out without a doubt. Nothing is going to change going forward and really saddens me.

Peter Milton

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Peter. Thank you for getting in touch.

To begin with, it's important to highlight that this season is by no means done and dusted and that from a Sunderland perspective, there's a lot to play for.

Playoff football looks like a certainty now and even though we've dropped off the pace of the automatic promotion-chasers, we could still enjoy a successful end to the campaign, so the picture isn't entirely negative. Yes, we've let excellent chances to close the gap to the top two slip, which is frustrating, but I really do believe that it's purely a mentality and confidence issue because ability-wise, we're a match for anyone in this division.

That said, I do understand where you're coming from regarding our readiness for the Premier League and how we might cope if and when we get there.

There's no doubt that this squad has a lot of talent within the ranks and that many of them have the potential to be very, very good Premier League players, but the reality is that there's a gulf between the leagues and we'd need plenty of reinforcements if we wanted to avoid a relegation battle during our first season back in the top flight.

Last season's promoted teams are all struggling and a combined goal difference of -117 is quite stark, but Sunderland AFC's target must always be to compete strongly in the top flight and it's up to those making the key decisions to ensure that we're eventually well-placed to do that.

Here's hoping they do!

Dear Roker Report,

During seventy years of supporting Sunderland, I have one constant: I hate the whingers.

The last letter I sent in was in praise of my favourite player, Luke O'Nien. This followed criticism of him from some quarters and I then vowed never to write in again and to merely be a passive Roker Report reader.

However, I've been galvanised to use my pen again after seeing the reactions of many of your readers following the Preston game, and I write to support the best manager we've had since Sam Allardyce.

I do understand the frustrations felt by those who expected automatic promotion, but we need some perspective before throwing Régis Le Bris under the bus, and after trying numerous managers in too short a time, we do need stability.

Le Bris is in his first season in the UK and finds himself in one of Europe's most competitive leagues, where almost any team can beat anyone else. The Championship is a long slog — especially with a young group of players without much experience.

Let's just appreciate how far he's taken us this season…

• We're competing effectively with three teams buoyed by parachute payments.
• Le Bris has developed Jobe, Chris Rigg, Eliezer Mayenda, Romaine Mundle and Tommy Watson, with their asset value well over £100 million.
• He managed to recruit Wilson Isidor for around £3 million, as well as Enzo Le Fée — a Champions League player — and used his French connections for players who would've wondered where Roker and Seaburn were.
• Our recently published wage bill is the fifteenth-highest in the league yet we're fourth in the table and our transfer expenditure is nowhere near that of our rivals — Tom Cannon at Sheffield United, anyone?
• We've only lost one home game. We have to go back to the 1998/1999 and 1975/1976 seasons to be at that level and in both seasons, we were promoted from this league!

Can I please ask the doubters, naysayers and whingers to get behind the Lads during their final nine games and then join me at the playoff final at Wembley as we take our place in the Premier League next season?

Negativity never wins anything, so let's invoke the Spirit of Charlie, Monty, Cloughie and Saint Niall!

Colin Ions

Ed's Note [Phil]: Hi, Colin. Thank you for your letter.

With nine games left, I think the reviews and summaries of Régis Le Bris' first season in English football might be appearing more regularly, and it's important to remember that he could become the first Sunderland boss in almost two decades to lead us to Premier League promotion — and I'm sure he'll be desperate to do just that.

Broadly speaking, I'm a big fan of Le Bris and I admire the work he's done this season.

His composure and calmness is admirable; I like the faith he's shown in certain players (most notably Eliezer Mayenda), and he's instilled a real sense of optimism and resilience after the struggles of last season.

Has he got everything right? Of course not.

We've experienced some frustrating performances and results along the way and our recent home displays have been less than convincing, but overall, I think he's done a stellar job and I also feel that anyone suggesting he's not the right man for the job has jumped the gun somewhat.

Let's see if he can get us back onto the winning trail and ensure that we start to build momentum during the final nine games. He's got the players to do that and I hope we can head into the international break on the back of a positive result at Coventry tomorrow.