Roker Rapport

Tony Mowbray was relieved of his duties by Sunderland AFC very late last night (just a few hours ago aye) so our Gav and Martin convened an emergency recording session to give their initial thoughts on the news! What's the crack? "Argh ye killed me other pod, man" and other tales.Was it the right call to axe Tony? Was the writing on the wall after his post-match comments?Do you think we’ve got anyone lined up? A European maybe? A bald Austrian or something? What do we make of what Speakman & KLD had to say? Where do things go from here? Besides of course waiting for the new coach to be announced so we can record another podcast. Just... Aye. Good morning btw.#SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship #TonyMowbray Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aye it looks as though we've been quiet but unfortunately for you all it was merely preparation for an extremely busy month for ourselves and the Lads... Our Gavin Henderson sat down with Martin Wanless to talk about the last couple defeats at the hands of Plymouth and that Huddersfield horror show and try to work out why we're in the situation we are. What's the crack? If the 2-0 loss to Plymouth wasn't enough misery for one week we were treated to an absolute feast of terrible football on Wednesday night as we lost at home to Huddersfield Town; Safe to say it's not gone down well. What exactly is Tony doing? Without Clarke taking games by the scruff we look pretty toothless for all our possession; What should we (or Mogga in this case) be doing to solve this pretty significant issue? He may have just got a contract extension but does Patrick Roberts deserve to start at the moment? Just how much of a impact has losing our ability to field "proper" full backs to cover full back duties had on our ability to pl

Gav halts his weekend bender (temporarily) to chat with our Chris Wynn about Sunderland's 3-1 victory over old Wayne Rooney's Birmingham City at the Stadium of Light this afternoon! What's the crack?That's a lovely way to enter an international break isn't it? How we all feeling after that? Huggins is the boy; after an injury to Cirkin in the warm-up brought in another of our less experienced lads in Nectar Triantis, Niall managed to not only be exactly where he was needed at the back, but also made a brilliant run to help secure all three points.Clarke's class and Jobe's job done; great performances from both but Roberts seemed to struggle after a dodgy challenge and then card from another terrible referee. Some interesting subs from Mowbray paid off in the end as the Lads settled into a good rhythm in the second half despite losing a well performing Rusyn up top; Adil showed his class once again and got a goal for his troubles and Mayenda - who looks like some player - attempted to decapitate

Chris and Gav (they swapped sides of the table for this one) take a look as Tony Mowbray welcomes Wayne Rooney's Birmingham City circus to the Stadium of Light before another unwanted International break stops all meaningful football for a couple of weeks. What's the crack? How are we feeling ahead of not just the Birmingham match itself, but the dreaded international break that follows? So Wayne and friends; how are things going as the former granny sha… I mean England talisman.. tries to settle into his role at St Andrews? How shite are Birmingham generally (no offence to Birmingham fans of course) and why have they been stuck to the lower end of the Championship for this long? We've lost our primary defensive partnership for the game but are we too concerned over it? How do the lads think Tony will approach this issue? How should we be approaching this side? Do the lads think we'll get another Norwich performance or could we make things more difficult for ourselves given it's

The lads took a look at our trip to Wales over the weekend - as Sunderland managed to take just a point from ten man Swansea City thanks to the penalty saving exploits of a certain Anthony Patterson - as well as taking some time to ponder Tony Mowbray's comments about his young strikers. What's the crack? How are the lads feeling after that result? Bit frustrated? Did the red card for Swansea's Arsenal loanee Charlie Patino actually work against us? Patto Lad; Another clean sheet and a penalty save to spare a few Sunlun blushes! Tony isn't happy with Luke O'Nien or Dan Ballard as both pick up yellows to rule them out of our Birmingham fixture. Was he right to read them the riot act? Mowbray also went after his strikers following on from some interesting comments about Hemir days before the match; what do the lads make of all that? If one of our shots had actually gone in, would anyone be complaining about the quality of football we witnessed or the odd subs? Chris is feeling

WE WON THE FOOTY AGAIN AND EVERYTHING IS BACK TO NORMAL! Aye our Gav and Chris reconvened to wax lyrical once more about the joys of comfortably winning matches as Sunderland beat a terrible Norwich side over the weekend; Jack Clarke got back to tearing things apart, Dan Neil just keeps getting better and even Trai sort of got back on the scoresheet with an absolutely intentional strike/cross because why the f*** not eh? What's the crack? PGMOL are still on a warning, but even they couldn't stop the Lads on Saturday; So how are we feeling after all that? Jack Clarke and Dan Neil may just be two of the very best players in the division but try keep that to yourselves aye; the lads try to convince everyone they should stick around Sunlun for a while longer. What a goal man. Just aye. Still got it on repeat. GO WATCH THE GOAL AGAIN! A brilliant performance from all the lads; besides the aforementioned not-so-secret weapons, who really stood out for us and how confident are we heading into the Swansea game this w

Apparently not everyone enjoyed the game quite as much as these two, but Gav and Chris have a few bones to pick with Mogga over a few issues - despite finding a lot of positives to take from our performance against Leicester on Tuesday night - and look ahead to the Lads return to the Stadium of Light as we take on Norwich on Saturday! What's the crack? God Save Dan Neil. He's just another level isn't he? Patto had a bit more to do in this game and was just class aye. The lads will fill you in on the rest. What did they make of the performance overall and how good were some of the individual performances against a side who look destined to smash all championship records on their way back to the PL; If we'd played like that against Stoke and other stories; the players really tried to show they had what it takes against quality opposition, so can they maintain that level against everyone? There's a bit of a debate about Burstow going on and some confusion over what exactly is wrong with

Gav and Chris return to action and find themselves reacting to a loss against Stoke City in a pretty shit and extremely Stoke-esque game marred by a mixture of tactical mistakes, Stoke themselves and PGMOL apology worthy errors from more useless officials. What's the Crack? Two weeks of waiting for 90+ minutes of frustration; how do the lads feel about it all? Mowbray made some changes to the line-up and opted to keep all our strikers on the bench before later throwing all our strikers on the pitch; would he have been wise to maybe use one or two from the beginning? Though everyone was delighted to see Pierre Ekwah back on the pitch and Jobe did his best with the role he was forced to play, how much did we miss the presence of Dan Neil in the middle of the park? Another match, another terrible example of modern officiating; considering we only lost the use of a key player over 135 minutes of football because of the decision making of a referee whose general incompetence drew an offici

After avoiding the issue for as long as possible, Gav and Chris sat down in the aftermath of a refereeing and game management disasterclass to look at Sunderland 0-4 Boro and the state of officiating in the modern game. What's the crack? What the actual f*** was that? How is that the standard of refereeing in this country? The letter of the law versus the spirit of the law; it's not the rules, it's how and when you apply them. A lack of consistency; the lads get to the bottom of the frustration with PGMOL. Mowbray's game management; what did the lads make of the way Tony attempted to adapt to the situation? Despite the result, how do the lads feel heading into this international break sat where we are currently? All this and a bit of a long rant. Aye. Ha'way the Lads! Free Dan Neil! #SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello again... As we play midweek we thought it would be a good idea to preview the fixture a little, so Chris and Gav took a quick look at Watford's visit to the Stadium of Light! What's the crack? What are Watford up to recently? They're not looking great sat where they are in the table; Be nice to get another three points under the lights against a struggling side but there's always a worry that could work against us so will they come to frustrate or will they take the risk and try to attack?  Do we think Mowbray will make a few changes given we play Boro on Saturday? The lads try a bit reverse psychology on Tony this week.Gav takes a look at the Watford fans online and their take on it all; are they feeling any hope currently and if not, can we exploit that? Ha'way the Lads! #SAFC #EFLChampionship #EFL Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our Gav and Chris were joined this week by a very tired Martin from the land down under as they tried to work out what time of day/night it was, chatted about the win on Friday and look at your thoughts and opinions on all things SAFC right now! What's the crack? CLARK, CLARKE WILL TEAR YOU APART, AGAIN! Just aye. Jack Clarke is too good for this division. How good is this side? Do we know how high the ceiling is for some of the talent we have? Burstow played his best game for the Lads so far, what did we think of his performance? Cheers for the points Chansiri? Sheffield Wednesday are in a bit of a state at the moment, bless them, and he's not exactly helping matters; Sunlun 2.0 - We often think of "doing a Sunlun" as a negative but has that changed recently? What has actually driven our successes on the pitch, and how much has our new approach changed people's perception of the club? We go through a few listener points and of course the three word reviews, as Gav

Following on from the breakdown of our home defeat to Cardiff at the weekend, Gav and Chris reconvene to discuss Sunderland's upcoming fixture at Hillsborough against Sheffield Wednesday (in front of the Sky cameras) on Friday night. Given that our Chris has been studying their fans down in their natural habitat of South Yorkshire for a few years now, we turn to him to ask the important questions like.. can we make them more miserable than they already are? What's the crack? Chris needs this win as he's surrounded by their lot; but just because we should win.. well.. you know the rest. Yes things really are that bad down there. The fans are apathetic, agitated, annoyed, sick of the owner and the manager and the struggle. Sounds familiar. In all seriousness, can we take advantage of a side that currently share a terrifying statistic with a former striker of ours? Are we tempting fate with all this? Of course aye. The lads discuss the possible changes (if any) that Tony Mowbray could make, and wax lyrical about

Gav and Chris were quite frustrated with the result on Sunday but they managed to sit down and relive it all for a giggle, weaving a few of your points, questions and three word reviews throughout.. and aye just generally being themselves. What's the crack? Gav bans his mate from attending any future home fixtures; How can we dominate like that and yet lose, and why does it feel so Sunlun? The positives: Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham to name a couple; how good is young Jobe, was taking him off a mistake? Just how exceptional a player is Dan Neil going to be? He's already a PL midfielder in our opinion.Do we play better without a striker? It would appear so currently, but can that change? Aye you might've noticed this was actually recorded in the immediate aftermath of the game so Gav and Chris got stuck into the immediate fan reaction and many of our listener opinions; All this and more! Back Thursday with a nice shiny new preview for our upcoming game against Wednesday on Friday.

CLARKE, CLARKE WILL TEAR YOU APART, AGAIN! What a match that was man. After picking themselves up off the floor our Gav and Chris sat back down to pick apart another three points on the road, try to put into words what we just witnessed and somehow preview our upcoming home fixture against Cardiff City on Sunday! (Cheers for the title idea @Rachaelthex91) What's the crack? JACK THE LAD! He's only gone and done it again hasn't he the absolutely gorgeous b*stard. The EFL Championship's current top scorer is on fire! DAN NEIL STRIKES BACK! Absolute stunner from our young midfield maestro to get us back in front; Has he been underrated so far this season? Luke O'Nien plays where he wants; some insanity at the back but the Lads got it done any way they possibly could. Hopefully not too a serious knock for Dan Ballard? Pure unadulterated chaos; Are we all ok after that? Everyone got their sedatives aye? Maybe some warm milk or some… valium… Sunderland are now fourth in the league

HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaI'm alright Jack; The p*** biscuit saw red at Loftus Road after trying to snap Jobe's leg in half, before our very own Jack Clarke fired in a beautifully timed equaliser. Funny.Well that was f***in delightful; how do the lads feel after that performance?Ainsworth; what the f*** was he wearing honestly? A lovely 20% possession for the shithouse is all he's got to show for his tactical genius. Again... funny.Goals for Dan Ballard and an assist for one of our new French lads as Abdoullah Ba finished the game off in style! Just class from so many today wasn't it?So as it stands we sit 7th in the EFL Championship with a couple nice wins under our belt; looking forward to Blackburn on Wednesday? All this, your three word reviews and more! Ha'way the Lads!#SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more

The international break is over! Sunderland are back to league action against Gareth Ainsworth’s QPR at Loftus Road on Saturday. Gav and Chris sit down to preview the trip, try to guess what changes Mogga may make (if any) and react to the official unveiling (finally) of our new Ukrainian forward Nazariy Rusyn. What’s the crack? Slava Ukraini! Welcome Nazariy Lad! Are we feeling confident ahead of Saturday? Tony Mowbray is probably unlikely to make any significant changes from the side that started against Southampton last time out, but we do have a few strike options available now; Weird haka performances aside, how has Ainsworth been doing recently in his relatively new role? Are we expecting the same sort of tactics from one of the masters of lower league time wasting shithousery? It's just nice to have options isn't it; the new lads seem hungry from what we've seen and we could even get to the point where Mowbray has a selection headache thanks to our new strength in depth.How do

Sunderland had a bit of a mad end to the 23/24 Summer Transfer Window and followed it up with an immediate battering of a poorly prepared Southampton side at the Stadium of Light. So now some of the Lads have a bit of time off with the international break, our lads Gav and Chris have had a look at everything from the departure of Batth, Goochy and Stewart to the arrival of five lads we can't wait to see play for the club, to the wonderful spinning top action of our young Jewi! What's the crack? Well it's been quite a week lads and lasses, so hope you're in the mood to revisit it all again as these two are! That absolute battering of Southampton wasn't bad at all was it? Imagine missing that man. The lads look at just how impressive Sunderland were last weekend and try and pick their standout performers from the match; We dish out plenty of credit to lads (a certain Abdoullah Ba particularly) we've previously been critical of, as patience shows itself once again to be a virtue worth ha

Sunderland took a point from our old friends Coventry City in a lively but goalless game yesterday afternoon. Gav and Chris sat down last night to give us their take on the performance and a few other things rumbling away in the background at SAFC! What's the crack? Clean sheet and a point - we'll take that all day long aye?How do we feel after that? Besides mildly infuriated that Ba didn't pass that ball.. We're sticking with Dack but is it working? Tomorrow never came, so new lad in tomorrow aye? Everyone is concentrating on the need for striker by the end of the window, but Chris thinks we need to focus our attentions on the midfield too;Another brilliant performance (on the pitch and down the beach) from Luke O'Nien. Isn't he a good boy? Yes he is. Your three word reviews and more! Ha'way the Lads!#SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sunderland are now a mere three points off the playoff places after our first win of the season against Rotherham on Saturday. Our Gav and Martin sat down the morning/evening after to react to the match and the rise of a new goalscoring star in the Bellingham household! What's the crack? JOBE "STARBOY" BELLINGHAM - The lads wax lyrical about the maturity, skill and promise of our new young starlet as his two first senior goals secure our first few points of the 23/24 campaign! Do the Bellingham brothers have more siblings hidden away anywhere? So do we all feel a bit more upbeat after a win? I bet we do..Was anyone slightly concerned when they saw the starting lineup? Bradley Dack impresses despite clearly not being a striker (that's Jobe now obviously) so how does this look for Alex Pritchard's future at the club?The name is Mr Sunderland - Luke O'Nien continues to prove his worth after a brilliant performance. All this and more! Ha'way the Lads!#SAFC #EFL #EFLChampionship 

Tired from a great deal of fiddling on the Stadium of Light roof with Kristjaan Speakman and KLD - our Gav and Chris sat down to console Craig over the loss of footy bragging rights to his wife, react a bit to the loss to Preston with a few days to let it soak right in, look ahead to Rotherham on the weekend, and to try think who else wrote a season off after the second league game. What's the crack? The Sundered Lands; Aye we lost again and Craig's journey back home after the game was less than thrilling… What did the lads make of the game on Saturday, and what do they all make of the first week or so overall?Is everyone feeling ok? Tensions are running high online and every day there's a bit drama but it seems offline the majority are taking it all in their stride; do the lads think the players pay any attention to X/Twitter... and how uninterested in social media is our Chris?Do the Daveh Moyeseh; Can we somehow recover over the remaining 44 games or are we doomed? How do we feel ahead