Roker Roundup: Axed WBA assistant fell out with board over failed signing of Sunderland defender

More details emerge on Oviedo’s failed WBA move

Bryan Oviedo was all set to move to Championship side West Bromwich Albion on January’s transfer deadline day, only for the move to fall through at the last minute.

The Costa Rican international had travelled to the Midlands, agreed terms and undergone a medical but the paperwork to confirm the move failed to arrive in time and the left-back had to remain at Sunderland.

Oviedo has not played for Sunderland since the failed transfer due to various injuries but according to the Express&Star, the move was vetoed at the last minute by the West Brom board.

According to the report, Darren Moore’s number two Graeme Jones had a bust up with the board over the failed transfer.

Jones had coached Oviedo at Everton while an assistant to Roberto Martinez but the WBA board felt that there was no point adding a seventh loanee when only five can feature in a match day squad due to EFL rules and also believed the team was well covered at left-back thanks to Kieran Gibbs, Conor Townsend and Chris Brunt.

The report also claims that Jones had too much influence on Darren Moore’s tactics and the pair were both sacked at the weekend. Jones is not expected to be out of work for too long though, as they claim he is expected to take over from Mick Harford as Luton boss in the summer.

International boost for McLaughlin

Sunderland goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin may have received an international boost yesterday after Scottish number one Allan McGregor retired from international football.

Former Sunderland ‘keeper Craig Gordon is back up to Scott Bain at Celtic, Jamie McDonald of Kilmarnock was called up in McLaughlin’s place for the Autumn internationals after the Sunderland goalkeeper pulled out due to a fixture clash but has recently lost his place in the side and St Johnstone’s Zander Clark has been hit with a hamstring injury of late.

Speaking about his retirement, McGregor said he has reached an age where he needs the time to recover:

It’s a sad day for me to bring an end to my international career, but unfortunately I feel it is a decision I have to make.

I am playing over 50 games each season, but I know my body and at this stage of my career I need to use the international breaks to rest up to help ensure that I play at the top level for as long as possible.

This decision was an extremely hard one for me to make.

Photo by Manuel Velasquez/Getty Images

Heart-warming cup final tale

In the lead up to the Checkatrade Trophy final, there has been a lot of angst regarding the ticket sales and how the process has been handled but it is not all doom and gloom.

One 87-year-old Sunderland fan rang up BBC Radio Newcastle’s Total Sport to explain his dread at following the process of getting the ticket he qualifies for but then revealed how two fellow Sunderland fans not only took his season card to register him with Ticketmaster but paid for his Wembley ticket, leaving the old timer just needing to wait for the ticket to arrive.

You can listen to the entire clip in the embedded Tweet below:

Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images