The Roker Roundup: February 22nd 2012 - SAFC Courting Kone? Plus, Quinn's Role Absorbed

Evening all, you know what this is about now since we're in the third week of it, we bring you a brief roundup of all the Sunderland related news we've seen elsewhere today.

Today of course being the 22nd of February, a day on which in 1980 the USA Ice Hockey Team defeated their Soviet Union counterparts in the game now known as The Miracle On Ice. It's also Bruce Forsythe's birthday, and in 1997 we got beat 1-0 off Leeds United. I wouldn't dwell on it too much though, who's laughing now eh?

That's all in the past though, so let's see what's been moving and shaking in the world of SAFC today...

Italian newspaper Tuttosport has claimed we're one of several teams monitoring the progress of Moussa Kone. The Ivorian midfielder is currently on loan to Pescara from Atalanta - CLICK HERE

Sticking with an African flavour there's some bad news for us regarding Stephane Sessegnon. If we look at it from a purely selfish perspective. He's been named in Benin's squad for the game against Ethiopia, just a few days before we head to the Sports Direct Arena - CLICK HERE

Speaking of Sess, Martin O'Neill has been banging on about him, and the postives of Diamant Noir. Despite Steve Bruce being somewhat unsure what to do with him, O'Neill has said similar, but it's a welcome problem rather than the troublesome one it appeared to be under Brucey. Great read from Scott Wilson in the Echo - CLICK HERE

Asamoah Gyan is in demand too, as his current club Al-Ain are desperate for him to stay, and the coach Cosmin Olaroiu has hinted that the Ghanaian striker wants to stay - CLICK HERE

After appearing in court the other week, Nicklas Bendtner has been banned from driving for 56 days and fined the princely sum of £660. That'll learn him - CLICK HERE

With Niall Quinn leaving the one thing nobody really considered is who'll replace him? Well, it's going to be... nobody, his role will be absorbed by Mike Farnan, who's been doing a similar job behind the scenes according to Setanta - CLICK HERE

The home game with Spurs on April 7th has been brought forward a few hours to 12:45pm from 3pm for TV too, hopefully that won't impact people too much, but worth noting - CLICK HERE

And finally, you'll have seen the name of Mark Metcalf grace these pages before dropping historical knowledge bombs and book extracts all over us, well there's a great little interview with him in The Halifax Courier about writing about football. Well worth your time if you want to hear about a Sunderland fan done good - CLICK HERE