Roker Roundup: Have Sunderland dodged a bullet? Falkirk fans want Mark Campbell ‘investigated’

Owner refutes Honeyman rumours

George Honeyman was in Hull yesterday, undergoing a medical ahead of his move to Hull City in a deal that can reach a potential £500,000.

With Jack Ross mentioning yesterday in his pre-match press conference that the skipper’s move took the club by surprise, there were rumours that Honeyman had been sold from under him.

It was a surprise because it wasn’t something we were anticipating happening.

In football sometimes you have to make quite big decisions in a relatively quick period of time, so for George it was a busy day for him on Wednesday to process.

It wasn’t something we believed was imminent or on the horizon.

It does effect what you expected to start the season with but you’re going to get these bumps along the way.

Stewart Donald responded on Twitter to those rumours to say that Honeyman’s departure was a purely footballing decision and revealed that he only found out about the move after the football management had decided that the offer was acceptable:

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Falkirk fans want Campbell investigated

Mark Campbell’s Sunderland takeover fell through last month, with Stewart Donald explaining that he did not believe the club would be in a better position under Campbell, should we reach the Championship.

Campbell is now aiming to push through with his takeover of Scottish League One outfit Falkirk, something he also planned to do regardless of the result of his bid for Sunderland.

However, despite Falkirk announcing last week that they hoped that the takeover would be done by the of the month, fan group Back The Bairns have released a statement urging both the club and the Falkirk Majority Shareholders Group (MSG) to investigate what they claim to be potentially concerning issues surrounding Campbell:

After conducting background checks and meeting Mark Campbell on Monday, we can confirm we identified information which we believe is potentially of concern to the club.

We notified the MSG/Board of our findings and asked them to ensure they are fully investigated as part of the due diligence process. The MSG/Board have assured us that this will be the case.

Had the Campbell/Sunderland takeover gone though, John Park was being lined up to be Director of Football but instead was set to take on the same roll at Falkirk once that deal had gone through.

The ex-Celtic man instead looks to be taking a step back until Campbell proves he has the funds to take over Falkirk, with the Scottish Sun claiming Park has ‘made it clear he will not be involved until directors are satisfied and a concrete deal is in place with all parties’.

Lennon pleased with Morgan’s Sunderland loan

Celtic boss Neil Lennon has been pleasantly surprised with winger Lewis Morgan in the early stages of this season.

The 22-year-old has impressed in both Celtic’s pre-season and their Champions League qualifying campaign and Lennon believes Morgan benefited from his loan spell at Sunderland during the second half of last season:

I think Lewis has done well and I like the fact that he does cross the ball early, and with either foot as well. So he’s been a little bonus for us this pre-season.

He’s come back and he’s obviously benefited from the loan spell. In any of the games he’s played, whether that’s Sarajevo, Rennes, or last week against Kalju, he’s featured very well.

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