Roker Roundup: Sacked ex-Sunderland boss Jack Ross set for new job? Methven to appear on Podcast

Ross linked with Edinburgh duo

Former Sunderland defender Paul Heckingbottom was sacked by Hibernian yesterday afternoon and could be replaced by ex-Black Cats’ boss Jack Ross.

Ross has also been linked with a move to Hibs’ cross-town rivals Hearts - a club he was on the coaching staff of in 2014 - but the Daily Record claim his assistant at Sunderland, James Fowler, was at Hampden Park to check out Hibernian in their 5-2 BetFred Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic.

One former Sunderland manager who won’t be appointed is David Moyes, the Scot said he is not interested in either job despite wishing to return to Scotland to manager some day:

Ultimately it is football management and it happens, but no, neither job would be of any interest to me.

I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t move back to Scotland. Scotland is my love and Glasgow is where I’m from. Hopefully someday I may well come back but at the moment it’s not just now.

Photo by Chris Vaughan - CameraSport via Getty Images

Pitt discusses his career ending injury

Everton midfielder Andre Gomes suffered a season ending injury on Sunday evening during a Premier League game with Tottenham Hotspur.

The Portuguese international has since undergone successful surgery but will be sidelined for quite some time.

In the aftermath of that injury, i-news spoke with former Sunderland defender Richie Pitt who was only 21 when he had to retire - not long after playing in the 1973 FA Cup Final - due to a knee injury.

Pitt mentions that when he initially had the injury and while he was still in plaster, the knee kept swelling up and when the time came to remove the plaster cast, the knee was completely frozen:

I was in plaster for 13 weeks and it blew up several times, which meant I had to have the plaster taken off, all the fluid drained and then put back in plaster.

When they took it off it was as if my knee was stuck in cement, it just wouldn’t bend.

The now 68-year-old also revealed that he had no personal insurance and did not receive a penny after being forced into early retirement:

There was no personal insurance for me. I got not a penny. I was thrown on the scrapheap basically.

Photo by Peter Robinson/EMPICS via Getty Images

Special Rapport guests this week

We have two special guests appearing on the Roker Rapport podcast later in the week, Sunderland’s executive director Charlie Methven and Academy manager Paul Reid.

There is a wide range of topics to be covered, from the recent investment into the club by FFP Sunderland Ltd. to integrating the younger players into the squad and how much stock we can put into results on the pitch at academy level.

You can also have your say, either leave your questions or topics you would like to be brought up in the comment section or reply to the Tweet below.

You can get to listen to the Podcast for free and as soon as it’s available by subscribing on Acast, iTunes, Spotify, & YouTube or follow us on social media @RokerRapportPod @RokerReport, Roker Report on Facebook or Roker Report on Instagram.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images