The Sunderland Chronicle
Squad23 Aug 2027
Abdoullah Ba damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Simon Moore breaks a bone — 14 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match21 Aug 2027
Sunderland make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Sunderland have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Real improvement from Dayann Methalie at Sunderland
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dayann Methalie is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Tempers go at Sunderland
Enzo Le Fée was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Sunderland
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
The crowd has taken to Chemsdine Talbi
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Market23 Aug 2027
Luke Hunter steps up from the Sunderland academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Luke Hunter has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market23 Aug 2027
One of our own: Liam Palmer joins the Sunderland first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Liam Palmer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
- Market Sunderland promote Anthony Clark from within
- Market Alexander Martin steps up from the Sunderland academy
- Match Sunderland see off Aston Villa