Roker Roundup: Stewart Donald to address claims made by the Daily Mail over Sunderland purchase

Donald responds

Sunderland AFC owner Stewart Donald responded in the early hours of this morning to a supporter seeking clarity following an article posted in the Daily Mail which painted an unfortunate picture of the men running the club.

The article - framed as an ‘investigation’ into the way the club was purchased by Donald from Ellis Short - left some supporters confused, to which Donald cleared up a few things and then explained he will address it when he is on the Roker Rapport Podcast this coming Tuesday:

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Sbragia leaves United

Former Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia has spent the last couple of seasons at Manchester United as manager of the club’s reserve team but that ended yesterday when the 62-year-old left by mutual consent.

He presided over the team’s relegation from the Premier League 2 First Division last season and their form was not much better this, with just eight wins in 22 games leaving them 6th in the table.

Sbragia took the reigns at Sunderland following Roy Keane’s departure but left the club once they retained their Premier League status at the end of the 2009-10 season.

Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

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Oviedo called up

Sunderland left-back Bryan Oviedo has been called up to the Costa Rican national team for the forthcoming match against Peru.

The game against Peru is a warm-up for the CONCACAF Gold Cup which starts in June and although head coach Gustavo Matosas has named a 23-man squad for the friendly, he has until the first week of June to name his final 23-man squad for the tournament.

That will give Oviedo a chance to stake his claim after not being selected for the last few squads due to injury but Matosas is keen to use the defender’s experience:

He is a player who has many matches in the National Team and he is a player who knows the position very well and knows more than one, so he can contribute a lot. The National Team can not disregard so many people of experience.

Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images

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Mandron released

Colchester United will release Sunderland academy product Mikael Mandron this summer once his contract with the club expires.

Mandron has made 95 appearances for the club in all competitions since joining from Wigan Athletic in 2017, scoring 12 goals and providing a further 9 assists. Although the majority of those were last season, with the French striker mainly being used as a substitutes this season.

With Colchester just missing out on the play-offs this season, manager John McGreal is looking to revamp his squad and that leaves no place for Mandron, despite the 24-year-old receiving praise from McGreal:

Mika has been brilliant for us and his hard work and graft has been first class.

He is one of the first on the training ground and last off, so you can’t question the effort he’s put in.

However, decisions have to be made in football and that is probably the hardest part of the game. We wish him well in the future.

Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images

Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images