It's Friday, Friday, Gotta Get Down On Friday... Sorry, welcome back to The Roker Roundup, where we bring you the most interesting news to happen in the world of Sunderland AFC today.
And today is March the 9th, what happened on this day in history I hear you ask? Well here you go - In 1946, 33 people tragically lost their lives in the Burnden Park Stadium Disaster. In 1959 the world was introduced to Barbie, and perhaps bigger and more important (in his own mind) it's our very own Michael Graham's birthday, 57 today.
Back on Wearside, in 1935 we travelled to Arsenal knowing a win would put us level with them at the top of the league. We drew 0-0. Still a decent result though.
Let's not worry about that too much, and get down to today's news...
We're all off to South Korea! Sunderland will participate in the Peace Cup in July. Another chance of silverware I hear you jest! Well, Martin O'Neill won the thing last time his Villa side were involved with it in 2009. We'll be taking on Bundesliga side Hamburg and locals Seongnam for the cup. Details and dates - CLICK HERE
After feverish speculation about whether or not Lee Cattermole would keep the captaincy following his sending off in the Tyne-Wear derby, it's been confirmed by Martin O'Neill that he will keep hold of the armband - CLICK HERE
In the reserve team derby at the Sports Direct Arena last night, a youthful SAFC reserves side drew 3-3 with their more experienced Newcastle counterparts. A good game by the sounds of things, marred only by some ugliness off the pitch where by fans of the home side decided to smash up their own Arena. I suppose it gives the phone boxes a night off anyway. For a match report - CLICK HERE
There's an interesting article on top football blog Lovely Left Foot about James McClean, his progress and his future with the Irish national side. He's arguably one of the best players, but he doesn't fit Trappatoni's system. Flair or system? It could be the deciding factor in whether McClean goes to the Euro's - CLICK HERE
Young midfielder Adam Reed has joined Leyton Orient on loan for the rest of the season. Reed has yet to make a breakthrough to the first team, and at 20 years old, he's approaching make or break time. Here's hoping this move to Orient is the one that makes him - CLICK HERE
Goal.com speculate that we're looking to make a summer move for Kevin Davies. I hope not. Davies is out of contract in the summer, and could move if Bolton get relegated. I'd like to think that the move in January was more of desperation than need, and in the summer we should be able to do better - CLICK HERE
According to reports we;re going to "battle it out" with Wigan, Liverpool and Everton for Colombian striker Jackson Martinez. The man himself has spoken of his desire to leave Jaguares for the Premier League, but no names have been named, so this is at the moment, pure conjecture - CLICK HERE
Craig Gardner has been spilling all again to the papers, once again reiterating how happy he is at the club, but also revealing he's a keen boxer, it's an inspiration, and he's mates with Frankie Gavin - CLICK HERE
It looks as though we're going 4-4-2 against Liverpool, as Nicklas Bendtner and Fraizer Campbell have been singing the praises of eachother in today's Sunderland Echo - CLICK HERE
Meanwhile on Merseyside, they're getting ready for this weekends game by dishing out 40 facts about Sunderland versus Liverpool. Some of them are a bit boring, but some of them are really quite revealing, such as we only have 4 wins against the Reds in the last 54 meetings, apparently - CLICK HERE