Dear Roker Report,
I couldn't agree more with Ernie from Carmarthen in yesterday’s Fan Letters, who spoke about the club needing to ‘change the tune’ and axe their current walk-out music.
The Dance of the Knights is an absolute dirge! It's so depressing and well past its use by date.
I actually wrote to the club after we escaped relegation under Dick Advocaat and suggested that it should be dumped and replaced with the theme from the Great Escape as being more appropriate at that time - but I got no reply.
Perhaps it is even less relevant now.
Still, perhaps you should run a poll of fans to see what they would prefer.
For a starter, how about the theme from 633 Squadron? It's a rousing piece, more in the Z Cars style. Happy days!
Ian Hodgson
Dear Roker Report,
The league game away at table-toppers Wolverhampton Wanderers this coming Saturday feels like a bit of a free hit.
I’m not expecting us to get anything. Wolves have thrown money at recruitment in the last two seasons and to their credit they have put together a formidable side that I believe would be more than capable of finding their feet in the Premier League.
Jota, Cavaleiro, Ruben Neves, Bonatini, Helder Costa - these are players that we at Sunderland could only dream of having in our side these days. For us to stand a chance against the team that are currently top of the division, we are going to need a whole lot of luck to go our way.
They have won their last six games and have lost just once at home all season.
On the flip-side, we are being kept off the bottom of the table only by our superior goal difference, have a mountain of injuries to key players to deal with, suspensions and everything else that comes with being an underachieving, under-performing side.
How on earth Chris Coleman approaches this one is beyond me.
I’d be tempted to introduce one or two of the younger players. Joel Asoro has shown in recent weeks that he’s capable of causing an impact and it’s a straight choice between him or Lynden Gooch on the right.
In the middle we lack tenacity and energy. Could young Adam Bale, Elliot Embleton or Ethan Robson be given a start ahead of someone like Lee Cattermole? They honestly couldn’t do any worse.
If our new manager can somehow mastermind a win against the best side in the division, it’ll be a truly remarkable victory, one that we’ll hopefully look back upon as a turning point in our season.
I’m crossing everything in the hope that we can escape unscathed.
Brian Fenwick