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Roker Report

https://rokerreport.sbnation.com/ | 925 entries published

Sunderland AFC's foremost blog and Podcast!

Latest Entries

Lasses Spotlight: The Challenge Of Charlton At The Valley!

There are matches that feel like checkpoints in a season and there are matches that feel like crossroads — and Sunderland’s trip to The Valley to face Charlton Athletic sits somewhere between the two. It’s not a title decider and it’s not a game that’s taking place during a relegation scrap, yet it carries a […]

MLS

about 9 hours ago | 0 reads

European Dreams Of An Eternal Optimist

European football is an exciting dream for Sunderland fans, but unless you’re of a certain age and vintage, it’s only ever been just that. It’s been 53 years since Sunderland’s last foray into the continent, when we were knocked out in the second round of the European Cup Winners’ Cup by Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon. […]

about 9 hours ago | 0 reads

Brighton And ‘The Visitors’: How Many Points Will Sunderland Collect?

Gav says… In the podcast that I recorded with Dom Shaw, we actually talked about this and as I said there, I feel like this is a landmark moment in our season. The next two games will probably decide whether we’re going to push on for a finish in the top eight or if the […]

about 9 hours ago | 0 reads

On This Day (12 March 1988) Controversy Stops Sunderland Again As Fists Fly At Wigan

While the daffodils may have been tentatively popping their heads above ground, there was little evidence of spring reemerging in Sunderland’s step as the club tried to successfully navigate the closing months of its first-ever Division Three campaign. After a slowish start that saw just three wins from the opening nine games, the team had […]

about 9 hours ago | 0 reads

Fan Letters: “Sunderland Have Produced As A Team!”

Want to have your say on all things Sunderland? Drop us a line and we’ll publish your views! [email protected] Dear Roker Report, Yes, we’re upset about losing to Port Vale in the cup and to have been been ninety minutes away from a Wembley semi-final, but let’s not beat ourselves up about it. It was […]

about 9 hours ago | 0 reads

Lasses Spotlight: “The PGA Pipeline”

International breaks often arrive like a pause in the soundtrack of a season. The rhythm of weekly fixtures fades, senior players scatter across Europe and the training ground becomes quieter, more spacious and more reflective. For some clubs, these breaks are simply interruptions; for Sunderland Women, they’ve increasingly become windows of opportunity, and the moments […]

1 day ago | 0 reads

Lasses Match Preview: Nottingham Forest Under The Lights!

Sunderland Women step into tonight’s clash with Nottingham Forest knowing that the shape of their season could hinge on what unfolds over the next ninety minutes. It’s a fixture that arrives at a pivotal moment in the WSL2 campaign, a stage where momentum becomes as valuable as points and where every performance has the potential […]

1 day ago | 0 reads

Sunderland Need To Use Their Cup Exit As A Source Of Motivation

Régis Le Bris arrived on Wearside two years, three permanent head coaches and a whole host of players after Sunderland had finally escaped League One, so it’s probably a fair bet that he doesn’t know about and therefore perhaps isn’t burdened by the trauma that four years in the third tier inflicted on our supporters. […]

1 day ago | 0 reads

On This Day (11th March 1972): Harvey Scores, But Injury Strikes

As a starry-eyed lad, Charlie Hurley and Jim Baxter were my first idols at Roker Park. The more I watched and matured, this changed. Young players like Todd, Suggett, Kerr, Hughes, Park and Tueart caught my attention. One player who was playing in the very first game I saw and played alongside these brilliant youngsters […]

1 day ago | 0 reads

Lasses Loan Watch: Cassap Gets Her First Goal For Middlesbrough!

Middlesbrough Women returned to winning ways with a performance that blended control, confidence and a renewed sense of purpose, and at the heart of it all was a young midfielder who looked as though she’d been part of the team for years. Sunderland loanee Emily Cassap delivered the kind of display that can shape a […]

2 days ago | 0 reads

On This Day (10th March 2003): Sunderland Sack Howard Wilkinson!

In October 2002, a decision that nobody saw coming occurred when Bob Murray appointed Howard Wilkinson as the new Sunderland manager, with a curveball for good measure in the form of appointing the then Stoke City manager Steve Cotterill as his assistant manager. The decision to appoint Wilkinson sparked shock and surprise amongst fans as […]

2 days ago | 1 read

What’s The Crack With Gerry?

As a Sunderland fan, I have always tried to avoid being overly critical of our players, or writing them off. There are some obvious exceptions, players who never even tried to look like they understood what it meant to wear the badge or play for this club – yes, Jack Rodwell and Will Grigg, I’m […]

2 days ago | 2 reads

Fan Letters: A Bad Day In The Potteries For Sunderland

Want to have your say on all things Sunderland? Drop us a line and we’ll publish your views! [email protected] Dear Roker Report, Like thousands of others, I genuinely believed the days of us ‘doing a Sunderland’ were well behind us. The beating by Port Vale was inexcusable. I was quite dismayed when I heard Luke […]

2 days ago | 1 read

View From The Away End: A Bitter FA Cup Exit For Sunderland

One of the (admittedly very minor) drawbacks of Sunderland securing our place back in the top flight has been the lack of new EFL stadia to visit. For any travelling fan, there’s always a sense of satisfaction that comes from ticking another ground off the list, edging ever closer to the fabled 92/92. Thankfully in […]

2 days ago | 1 read

Talking Tactics: Analysing The ‘Régis Le Bris Paradox’

Famously labelled the ‘David Moyes Paradox’, West Ham have spent the last half decade perpetually firing and re-hiring Moyes after fans grew tired of his conservative approach to games — only to hire a more expansive manager and it have blow up in their face, requiring them to bring back the more pragmatic Moyes to […]

2 days ago | 1 read

Editorial: A Day To Forget In A Season To Remember

Watching Arsenal in the FA Cup at Nigel Clough’s Mansfield Town on Saturday reminded me that the task we were due to take on the following day at Port Vale wasn’t going to be easy. It was fun to watch as a neutral, but just as Mansfield reached their peak levels of hope, Arteta sadistically […]

3 days ago | 0 reads

Talking Points: The Ins & Outs Of Sunderland’s Disappointing Cup Exit

Chronic Disappointment First off, I can’t express just how gutted I was that we lost. Take the fact this was Port Vale out of the equation, because it could have been anyone for me – the fact we would have been just one game from a potential Wembley semi-final had we won the game was […]

3 days ago | 0 reads

2 Up, 2 Down: Sunderland Squander Their Opportunity Against Port Vale

Ciaran McKenna says… An opportunity missed We couldn’t have asked for a better chance to get into the quarter finals. After reaching forty points on Tuesday, the FA Cup became a very attractive prospect and we’ve properly buggered it up. Mentality and performance We sleepwalked to defeat there. There was no intensity, a lack of […]

MLS

3 days ago | 1 read

FA Cup Matchday Musings: Sunderland Blow It Against Port Vale

Bugger. Yes, I’m annoyed, and if you’ve opened today’s edition of Matchday Musings in the hope that there would be any gloss applied in the wake of one of the most embarrassing and infuriating cup exits in recent times, you’ve sadly decided to read the wrong article. Why? Because as charitable as one can be […]

3 days ago | 1 read