The Sunderland Chronicle
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Sunderland training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fotis Ioannidis is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout29 May 2028
Granit Xhaka gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market29 May 2028
Sunderland promote Richard Williams from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Richard Williams has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market29 May 2028
Sunderland promote Paul Walker from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Paul Walker has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market29 May 2028
One of our own: Simon Clark joins the Sunderland first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Simon Clark is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market29 May 2028
Sunderland promote Samuel Phillips from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Samuel Phillips has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad29 May 2028
9 new faces, and Sunderland are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout29 May 2028
Aji Alese knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sunderland, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout29 May 2028
Jamaal Lascelles has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Sunderland will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
- The dugout Jenson Seelt has been promised minutes
- Boardroom Sunderland keep producing them
- Squad Igoh Ogbu named in the team of the week