Roker Report
Sunderland AFC's foremost blog and Podcast!
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On This Day (14th Dec 2024): Sunderland’s March Back Continues
Christmas comes earlier every year supposedly, but for Sunderland fans it currently feels as if the club is light years on from where it was 12 months ago, when a remarkable come from behind win against Swansea City had us all in raptures. We are just 365 days on from that trip to Wales but […]
Today Is The Day To Make More Memories!
My first ever Sunderland game was on 24 February 2002 — a Wear-Tyne Derby. This was the first game my father brought me to and I recall the build up like it happened yesterday. The face paint, putting on my Sunderland jersey with “Phillips” on the back (because the club shop had run out of […]
Reader’s Corner – Remembering Gary Rowell
Gary Rowell’s greatest moment was probably the hat trick he scored against Newcastle in a 4-1 win for the Lads away at Sid James Park. In 1979 I was just a naïve teenager scared of my own shadow and definitely scared of football ‘hooligans’. But football was my obsession, and when my older and much […]
Starting XI: How Will Sunderland Line Up For The Derby?
Well, here it is folks – the game we’ve all been ‘looking forward to’. Putting aside all of the noise surrounding the fixture, it’s going to be intriguing from a team selection persepective as to how Regis Le Bris approaches this game. Will we attack from the off or will we try to to soak […]
Haway The Podcast | MATCHDAY PREVIEW | Derby Day | Remembering Gary Rowell
Good morning and welcome to Haway The Podcast on Derby Day. Martin, Andrew, Ant and Jonny got together on Saturday morning to preview the game against Newcastle game today, however the sad news of Gary Rowell’s passing broke last night, which puts a whole different dimension on the game today. Martin and Andrew got together […]
Match Preview: Sunderland v Newcastle United — It’s The One We’ve Been Waiting For!
Sunday 14th December 2025 Sunderland v Newcastle United – Premier League Stadium of Light Kick-Off: 14:00 Tickets & Match Coverage Tickets: Tickets are sold out. TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is available via Sky Sports. Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online) Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of […]
The Passing of Gary Rowell
Extremely sad news is reaching many Sunderland fans tonight of the passing of one of our great players Gary Rowell, Seaham born and Sunderland fan. It is fifty years to the day that he made his debut for Sunderland as an eighteen-year-old, coming off the bench for Mel Holden in the 71st minute and helping […]
Wear-Tyne Derby: Sunderland’s Moment of Truth
How Sunderland fans thought they might feel ahead of the first Wear-Tyne derby for nine years when languishing in the depths of League One is difficult to recall. Being stuck in the maelstrom of Fleetwood, Rochdale, and Accrington away while up the road Newcastle United were becoming the “Richest Clerrrb in the Werrld” [TM] was […]
Derby Nerves? Not This Time – Sunderland’s Bigger Picture
I’m really looking forward to this first derby in almost ten years, but unlike a lot of my RR brethren, I am quite surprised that I haven’t been nervous really. I’ve had hardly any butterflies at all. On match day itself I will generally get twitchy pre-match, and in the game the tense and nervous […]
Haway The Podcast | PAST MEETINGS | Our Favourite SAFC Wins v NUFC On Wearside
It’s the day before the big game so the lads gather to go through two epic Sunderland victories over Newcastle in detail to build-up to the big game! On today’s agenda: All of this and more – get subscribed to Haway The Podcast so you never miss another episode of the show! This episode of […]
Fan Focus: What can Sunderland expect from Eddie Howe’s Newcastle team? Writer Sean reveals all!
After a more difficult start to the Premier League season than expected, Newcastle have now won three of their last four – is there a sense on Tyneside than your season is now getting into full flow? Yes and no. Newcastle’s performances have certainly turned a corner since the November international break and actually the […]
The Wear-Tyne Derby: Bring It On!
Sunderland vs Newcastle is a game we all fear and dread in equal measure. Games against that lot from up the road are rarely dull, and the last nine years saw us drop to our lowest point. We’ve gone from losing at Bolton and Cheltenham to tussling with the best in the country every week. […]
On This Day (13th Dec 2014): Poyet’s Sunderland Stutter To Draw With West Ham
Whilst four defeats in sixteen games doesn’t sound so bad, the fact that Gus Poyet’s side had drawn ten and only won two games at this point of the season was beginning to become a worrying trend. After Poyet’s heroics of last season, where the team sensationally stayed up after being cut adrift for so […]
This Derby Is Ours: Sunderland Reborn And Ready
A lot has changed in the last 10 years – Brexit, a global pandemic, and Donald Trump being elected… twice. But the more things change, the more they stay the same, and after nearly a decade apart Sunderland are finally ready to meet Newcastle in the league once again. This then is no normal derby. […]
Derby Eve: A Lifetime of Red-and-White Passion
It’s derby eve, and a quiet sense of purpose and intensity has settled on me, as it has done many times before this game. I was brought up in Morpeth, in a house that was split between the Toon and Sunderland. I had good friends growing up who were every bit as daft on the […]
Haway The Podcast | WEAR-TYNE DERBY | North-East Journalist Mark Douglas On Sunday’s Clash
This weekend’s game between Sunderland and Newcastle is creeping closer and closer, so today we’re joined by a Haway The Podcast debutant – Mark Douglas, the Northern Football Correspondent for i News. He covers both clubs in the north east and has done for many years, so he knars his onions… On today’s agenda: All […]
Jermain Defoe – Sunderland Icon, Derby Hero, & Legend
I was already in love with Sunderland by the 5th of April 2015, but after that day, I was head over heels. I remember rushing to the Stadium after playing for my football team in the morning. It was my first taste of the Wear-Tyne derby, but I was already very aware of its importance. […]
The Battle Of New Year’s Day
As I was growing up, a lot of songs and chants which were commonplace around Roker have since disappeared. “We hate Nottingham Forest, we hate Liverpool too (and Leicester)We hate Man United, but Sunderland we love you” To the tune of “Land of Hope and Glory”, fans could obviously insert different teams to suit. One […]
On This Day (12 Dec 1995): ‘Newcastle United Have Got Their Sums Wrong’ Says Murray
Throughout his tenure as Sunderland chairman, Bob Murray always seemed to be driven – almost in equal measure – by a desire for Sunderland to do well, combined with a deep-rooted dislike of ‘them up the road’. To be fair, that’s not too different from many Sunderland supporters, particularly those raised in halfy-half places like […]
Sunderland Fans – How Are The Pre-Derby Nerves?
Cal Mills says… I feel just how I felt about the play-off final… calm, confident, and assured. As we’ve seen already this season, the quality of football we play with the caliber of players we possess has given the league’s top teams the runaround already. Everyone related to Sunderland AFC knows how much this game […]
Cheer The Lasses On This Christmas!
As the league’s winter break draws near, Sunderland Women will be looking to close out their 2025 with 3 points against bottom-of-the-table Ipswich Town Women on Sunday 21 December at Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground. The Lasses, who started the season in good form but now find themselves 11th in a tightly-contested WSL2 table, are desperate to […]
Haway The Podcast | GUS POYET | How I Beat Newcastle (Three Times!) As Sunderland Boss
We’re really ramping up towards Sunday’s Wear-Tyne derby between Sunderland and Newcastle at the Stadium of Light – so, who better to get on the show than a man who has a perfect record as our manager having won all three of his games in charge against the great unwashed? Joining us today to explain […]
Sing Your Hearts Out For The Lads!
During the last couple of days, most of my time has been spent thinking about Sunday’s derby. I’ve been feeling nervous and anxious, hoping that we get something out of the game, but then my perspective changed as I realised something — it should be Newcastle who are hoping to get a result out of […]
On This Day (11th December 1926): A Day To Remember for Dave Halliday
Any day you win, score six goals, and beat Manchester United has to be seen as a good day out for a Sunderland AFC team, and this is exactly what they did on this day in 1926. In the fantastic book The Absolute Record written by Rob Mason, Mike Gibson, and Barry Jackson, the season […]
Poyet’s Sunderland v NUFC Derby Victories: Which Was Your Favourite?
Jonny Hawley: SAFC 2-1 NUFC, 2013 In a crowded field, Poyet’s first derby is right up near the top of my personal list – it’s no Richardson free kick, obviously, but I absolutely loved that game. I’d have just turned 15 not long before the match, so I was in that sweet spot in life […]
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