Roker Roundup: Sartori speaks out & Sunderland WILL re-open the Premier Concourse on Boxing Day

Sartori discusses conflict of interests

Now his candidacy for the Uruguayan presidency is official, Juan Sartori has been removing his conflicts of interest by leaving his various business interests behind.

Speaking to delsol.uy, Sartori has explained that he has enough assets to be able to live comfortably for the rest of his life and has so far removed himself from more than 20 different companies:

In the last three months when I was making this decision, what I did was to get rid of all the operational activities I had in all the companies, I had interests in more than 20 companies in Uruguay, the region and Europe, and all that was left behind to be able to devote 100% to this new life, this new decision of what I’m going to do with my time.

To no longer have any conflict of interest but above all to have nothing but to dedicate time to something other than the campaign.

Having started with very little I did well, and today I have enough assets to be able to live the rest of my life, I have been lucky and I can dedicate myself freely to other challenges and other things that do not require an economic return. No problem with what I have done in the past.

In the last three months I sold a stake I had in a power generation company in Peru, I sold a company called ICC, I was leaving all the boards and companies.

Although Sunderland are not included in those conflicts, Sartori says despite his desire to give 100% to Uruguayan politics, he cannot give up football or Sunderland:

Once a week I will surely stop to watch the game for 90 minutes. I go with everything, but two or three times a week let me play or watch a football game.

Kamara interests Lampard

Sunderland will face more competition if they wish to follow up their August interest in Dundee’s Glen Kamara, with the Daily Mail reporting that Derby County have now entered the race for the midfielder.

According to the Mail, Frank Lampard has asked about the Finland international after learning he is out of contract in the summer.

Derby join Sunderland, Rangers, Celtic, Hearts, Hibs and Swansea City in the race for the 23-year-old who will be able to discuss a pre-contract agreement with foreign clubs from January.

Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images

Nelson on Darlington debut

Andrew Nelson had a successful debut for Darlington personally, as he scored twice but that was not enough to get a point for the Quakers as they lost 3-2 at current National League North leaders Chorley.

Speaking to their official website after the game, the Sunderland loanee felt Darlington played well despite the weather conditions but were caught out by a short but good spell by the home side:

It was just one of those days, it was a compete battle with the conditions and stuff.

We did really well to go 1-0 up at half-time, we were solid, we were compact and we dealt with the conditions well. Then it seemed like they had a five to 10 minute spell where it seemed that every time they went on the attack, they ended up scoring.

Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t but you just need to keep pushing forward and try to see if you can get something out of the game.

Although he was obviously happy to start his loan spell at Darlington so well, he was disappointed with the end result:

There’s no feeling that compares to when you score a goal, especially on your debut when you’re trying to make an impression and trying to hit the ground running.

I’m delighted for that but at the end of the day, three points is what matters most and it’s a bit disappointing to go out like that but it’s something to build on and there are some positives to take out of the game as well.

Premier Concourse set to re-open

Sunderland are set to re-open the Premier Concourse for the first time this season, as ticket sales for the Boxing Day match against Bradford City are down to 1,500 in the main bowl of the Stadium of Light.

Speaking to A Love Supreme last night, Charlie Methven confirmed that the stand will re-open with ticket sales so far totalling around 36,500 and that tickets for the Premier Concourse will go on sale as soon as possible:

As of today [Sunday] there are only around 1,500 tickets available for the Bradford game in the main bowl of the Stadium of Light.

The plan has always been that once the number of seats available drops below 1,500, tickets for the Premier Concourse would go on sale, so tomorrow morning we will go ahead and do that.