Roker Roundup: Sunderland owner Stewart Donald committed to backing Jack Ross with new signings

Donald committed to supporting the manager

As Josh Maja’s £3.5m transfer to Bordeaux draws to a close, with the club’s top goalscorer this season expected to sign for the Ligue 1 club imminently, Sunderland owner Stewart Donald has been under pressure to strengthen Jack Ross’ squad.

Speaking to fans on Twitter, Sunderland’s owner reiterated that he will fully back the manager before the deadline closes next week and although it is taking time to do the right deal, he is confident that quality signings will be through the door before then:

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O’Shea on Netflix documentary

John O’Shea appeared on BBC Radio 5 live yesterday and gave his thoughts on the Netflix documentary that features him, Sunderland ‘Til I Die.

The former Sunderland captain said he has not watched all of the series as he lived through it, but he is happy about how the behind the scenes staff were portrayed.

He was not as happy about how some of the players were shown in a negative light and says that the majority of the squad did not want the show to happen:

I have not watched all of it. I’ve lived through it so why would I need to watch it again?

From my point of view and I’d say 99% of the players, we didn’t want it to happen, it’s one of those things. You go in in the morning, go in for a little bit of treatment and you realise there’s little mini cameras dotted around.

The few bits I’ve seen, I’m glad the people of the club in the canteen, the player liaison officer, the kit men, they are really good people and I’m glad they have come out of it looking well.

The club itself is an amazing, amazing club and I loved every minute of it as it’s a great place to play football. Yes the fans are passionate and vociferous but who doesn’t want that?

I’m glad it’s getting good reviews. The people behind it were good people. You got to know the camera people but how things can be portrayed, with clever editing, for some of it I’d say it definitely came out unfair on some people.

That’s just how it was at the time as it was a negative story. It wasn’t going to come out positive on everybody.

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Sunderland flop starring in League One

Kazenga LuaLua had a difficult time at Sunderland last season after being bought to the club by Chris Coleman.

The former Brighton and Hove Albion forward barely featured for the club despite the player claiming he was fit and saying ‘Ask Chris Coleman, he knows the truth’ when asked what went wrong at Sunderland.

He subsequently moved to Luton Town on a free transfer and has been shining for the Hatters - including providing two assists in the weekend in the 4-0 win over Peterborough Town.

His Luton team-mate James Collins was full of praise for the forward for his quality:

He’s brilliant, he’s played in the Premier League, played in the Championship, played at the top level, and you can see that in little flashes that he does.

He’s so quick and powerful and he’s not even a striker really, he’s a winger.

For him to adapt his game, and come in and do so well, just goes to show how good he is.

Sunderland’s own Mick Harford, the current interim manager at Kenilworth Road, has also praised LuaLua:

Kaz has been great, he’s a quiet lad, he gets on with his work.

He gets out on the training field and as I’ve said in the past, when I used to watch training, I used to say to the staff, ‘he’s close to playing that boy.’

With his enthusiasm and the way he goes about his business, he’s just such an exciting player.

He’s dangerous, he’s not a centre forward, but we’re short of bodies at the moment in the striker department and Kaz has filled in there for the last two games and done really, really well.

He’s a talented boy, he’s a danger, he’s a threat when in possession, and he can come up with those bits of magic.

When he gets people faced up one v one, he can go either way and he’s done great, in terms of the last few games considering he’s hardly played any football over the last few months.

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