Fan Letters: "For goodness sake, let's get this mess sorted out, PLEASE!"

06/14/2024 01:00 AM

"What on earth is going on?" asks RR reader Anthony Catterson. Have your say on current goings on at Sunderland - drop us an email: RokerReport@Yahoo.co.uk

Dear Roker Report,

Time for the owner to leave our club as it is going downhill rapidly. There is no leadership, and he is not putting his hands in his pocket to keep our good young players. He is another Mike Ashley. Go now before the club is back down again.

Joseph Coyne

Ed's Note [Gav]: Wouldn't blame him if he did sell up. He's a billionaire, he could be sat on a yacht in the Maldives being fed grapes if he wanted. I knar what I'd be doing!

Dear Roker Report,

I'm not sure whether Paul is really interested in the job or not, but surely someone should have asked him if he was. He got Sheffield United back up, and no one can stay in the Premier League without the necessary support. I don't blame him for that; let's face it, Chris Wilder didn't do any better. And Paul is one of us after all!

Whoever is appointed will surely be given a fair crack of the whip.

Get off your backside and appoint someone, please, KLD!

I'm 75 and have supported the lads ever since I can remember. I've always lived in the south, but both my parents were from Sunderland. In fact, my father said he was on the club's books pre-war, but after four years as a P.O.W. in Düsseldorf, he wasn't in a fit state for professional football. However, he said his proudest moment in football was when he played in a game alongside Bobby Gurney.

Would it be possible for someone to check it out for me? I'd love to see any details that exist. His name was John George Baxter Tombleson, otherwise known as Jack.

Thanks for your kind attention.

John Tombleson in Wickford, Essex

Ed's Note [Gav]: I said this yesterday, but I'm a little surprised Heckingbottom hasn't been linked to more jobs given what he achieved with Sheffield United last year. I'd assume (perhaps wrongly) anyone with recent Premier League promotion experience on their CV is a good option if that's where you'd like to end up eventually.

Regarding your relative - if anyone reading this has any information at all that they can help with, please get in touch and we'll pass it along!

Dear Roker Report,

I have been a SAFC fan for as long as I can remember and have never known such a shambolic situation as the one at the moment. What a laughing stock we are. The management team need to take a hard look at themselves.

With their policy, we won't get a half-decent manager, never mind a decent one. A manager always brings their own staff; to say they can only bring one person is outrageous. The backroom staff we have are a joke and proved it last season—they are not good enough. So who the hell would want to work with them? Four months on, and we still don't have a manager in. What a bunch of clowns we have running the club. When is KLD going to grow a set of balls, take charge of the situation, and get someone in? Leaving this to Speakman, we will only get another muppet in charge. Carry on like this, and Division 1 beckons again.

John from Houghton

Ed's Note [Gav]: Lots of the points you raise John are things that are entirely speculative. How do we know we aren't allowing a manager to bring their own staff? I was led to believe it was all agreed with Will Still for him to be joined by two of his coaches from Reims, for instance. That goes against what you're suggesting. But I could be wrong.

I guess we'll find out some point soon when they eventually do appoint someone. I understand why people may be worried or angry but until we know the full details I'm preferring to stay on the fence.

I get I'm in the minority, though.

Dear Roker Report,

Get rid of Mr. Speakman. He's the problem. He wants to control the managers as well as bring players in. Was the end of last season not a warning of what could happen? Speakman is talking about selling players without a manager. It doesn't look good.

Alan Fenwick

Ed's Note [Gav]: Speakman's future hinges on getting this next appointment spot on really. That's why I understand why they're taking their time. Although, everything was agreed with Still until he turned us down for the Lens job. That was a fortnight ago - it's unfortunate but it happened.

Dear Roker Report,

What on earth is going on? We cannot appoint a new head coach with less than two months to go before the start of the new season, and now we are possibly going to lose one of our best players because he won't sign a new contract. I can't blame him. It's utter bloody chaos. For goodness sake, let's get this mess sorted out, PLEASE!

Anthony Catterson

Ed's Note [Gav]: I wouldn't worry too much about Dan Neil, he's got two years left on his contract. The Athletic reported we're still in discussions over a new deal, and in fairness to him, why would he sign an extension before he's spoken to the new manager? No rush.

Dear Roker Report,

When will you all get real? Making excuses for Dreyfus when it's all down to him. All these managers who have knocked us back are because the so-called model (that the press and a lot of the fans have swallowed) has no chance of success. Every team needs a degree of experience to have any chance of promotion. Dreyfus is using this system because he doesn't need to spend any of his money by doing so. Whether you like it or not, football clubs need money to progress nowadays.

Geordie the Mackem

Ed's Note [Gav]: We've spent money. Plenty of it. Just not always on the right players!

I agree we need more experience and that has to be a focus of the current transfer window, but it has to be a better quality of experience. Players aged between 26-29 ideally that have promotion and/or top flight experience, international caps — that sort of stuff.

Gooch, Pritchard, Batth and Evans were good servants to Sunderland but they were all (bar Lynden) signed in League One, and in the case of the first three names there they've done absolutely nowt since leaving to suggest we were wrong to cash in while we still had a chance of recouping some money.

There's a big summer ahead and I'm sure KLD knows it.

Dear Roker Report,

How many applicants for manager have been interviewed and decided that they don't want the job, the latest being Rosenior? From their point of view, something is seriously wrong with taking on this post. It's down to the conditions of service unless the wages aren't good enough or they are appointed as head coach and not as a manager. Speakman appointed himself from director of football to manager, and he hasn't a clue, so where do we go from here? The imminent appointment is not working, so we march on to a new season without a new boss, thanks to the incompetence of the useless hierarchy.

Ed's Note [Gav]: How many? Pass. Nothing official has been said and I refuse to believe the majority of what gets posted by 'digital journalists' who don't know their arse from their elbow.

The reputable sources at The Athletic have claimed Rosenior removed himself from the running as he's expected to be interviewed for the Burnley job. Fair enough I think, Burnley are in a far better position than we are with the resources at their disposal having spent last season in the top flight. It's just an unfortunate sign of where the club are at that we're lower down the pecking order than they are.