Fan Letters: “Sunderland have all the tools to be successful - promotion MUST be achieved!”

Dear Roker Report,

I have supported my club for over 40 years and have had much heartache in that time.

However, I think the 17/18 relegation was the nadir and not just the drop but the state of the whole club and manner of our failure: in team, managers and back office, it seriously made me doubt my sanity in ‘keeping the faith’.

From being on the cusp of bankruptcy and having an absent ownership, we have gone in one season under the present ownership to financial stability and full or at least partial disclosure.

It was truly aggravating watching the negative tactics of the last few months throw away a promotion, but goodness me.... what a base we now have to move forward.

Maybe the manager, team or ownership will change in the next few moths but at least we aren’t going to do a Bolton, and in my opinion if we go for it, using a mix of our kids, the bulk of the existing squad and two new centre halves, it is most likely we will gain promotion next season.

Negative opinion regarding what Mr Donald has done over the last 12 months, as per Mr J Walton, only makes me realise that if the club is really going to throw off the “loser’ shackles of the last fee years, the biggest change we need is to lose some of our supporters!

Ashley Miller

Ed’s Note [Gav]: There has to be a culture change and realisation at this club from everyone involved, fans included, if we are going to foster a spirit that allows us to move forward at pace. There’s still some pre-existing cynicism within some supporters whereby they struggle to get on board with where the club are headed right now, and that’s totally their prerogative, but we can only hope that we have a successful summer which then helps people to understand what direction the club is going in.

I’m still calm and will remain so until I see how this all plays out. Obviously we’d all like to be sat here right now with a handful of quality additions already on board, but it would appear that the progress of the club’s takeover is dictating how quickly that business can be performed. I can’t pretend that I’m not jealous of Peterborough signing a raft of decent players but now is far too early to judge and we’ve got to hope we’re in a better position on the opening day of the season squad-wise than we are right now.

Ultimately, we have the tools to succeed and there’s really no good reason why Sunderland shouldn’t get promoted out of this league next season.

Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Dear Roker Report,

As a fan of 60 years, I’ve seen more bad moments in our history but like most we’ve stuck with them, but I do think I have the right to comment.

Last season was always going to be interesting - new owners, new manager etc, but I believe the majority of fans expected a top two finish. Why? Because we had the biggest budget in League One and probably the best facilities.

So what went wrong? Well 1, too much safety first negative football, 2, sitting back and unable to keep a clean sheet with very poor centre backs. 3, no creativity up front. 4, a captain who gives absolutely nothing to the team.

We should have been dominating teams and attacking at home. Jack Ross has a lot to learn tactically and he won’t be given a lot of time to change his style.

Ken Erskine

Ed’s Note [Gav]: Can’t disagree at all there Ken, you’re spot on. The two biggest factors for me in why we never got promoted are our poor recruitment, and our inability to see teams off when we had the lead.

Obviously we can’t expect to win every single game but in amongst the horde of draws that we managed to pick up, turning only a few of them into wins would have seen us promoted automatically. Fine margins.

I’m willing to get right behind Jack Ross but only a fool would fail to recognise that a bad start would see him off early doors in the season. He has to get his recruitment spot on and has to be more willing to play football on the front foot, like he did at St Mirren.

Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images

Dear Roker Report,

We should keep lee he’s not one of the mercenaries he’s one of our finest he’s stuck by us through thick and thin and never goes screaming to the press he’s a very private player he’s been there at the top and now at the bottom it’s not about the 40k a week he can get that anywhere we should show him the same loyalty as he has shown us he’s a leader fierce and determined he’ll show the kids how to go on and regroup them when it goes wrong give him his testimonial and keep the lad.

My Music Name

Ed’s Note [Gav]: It’s a matter of pounds and pennies, really. Charlie Methven noted in his interview this week with ALS that we still have players on extortionately high salaries, and whilst supporters may feel warmth towards Cattermole it cannot be denied that we’d be a lot better off with the two million quid we’d save on his wages in the bank.