Roker Roundup: De Bock linking up with Pardew? McGeouch speaks in-depth on Sunderland departure

McGeouch on Sunderland departure

Dylan McGeouch completed his move to Aberdeen this week, bringing an end to his disappointing time with Sunderland.

The midfielder never managed to establish himself in the first team after signing on a free transfer from Hibernian and, after initially turning down the Dons to sign for Sunderland, finally linked up with Derek McInnes at Aberdeen.

Speaking about his move, McGeouch admitted that he had a few injuries that held him back during his time at the club and the circumstances of being a big club in League One made it a difficult club to be around.

He goes on to say that he knew his time at Sunderland was up shortly after Phil Parkinson joined the club as manager:

I don’t want to make excuses and blame managers, for one reason or another, it didn’t work out. I had a few wee niggles at the start and was in and out of the team a bit.

I would say sometimes it was a difficult club to be around. They’re a big club – the fans are passionate and are there in their numbers every week. They’re a Premier League club competing in League 1 and it’s a tough league to get out of. The expectations are there. As players you’ve got to deal with that.

A new manager coming in wipes the slate. But from the first week he [Phil Parkinson] was in, I was left out of squads. I knew then that I’d be moving on in January.

So Derek was back on the phone and was really keen to get back to Scotland. Players get frustrated not playing and that was when I knew I needed to go and get regular game-time and kick-start my career.

I had a good few years at Hibs, getting into the international squad, and you go down the road thinking ‘right, I’m going to kick on’. But it just never really worked out. It happens quite a lot. It doesn’t go to the plan you thought it would.

I’ve learned a lot, about how to take the knocks and keep pushing forward. I was the same when I first went to Hibs. Coming from Celtic, going and getting regular games and I was back. I’ve taken a wee knock and hopefully I can come back to Scotland and kick-start my career again. Personally, I hope I can get the performances back to the way I know I can.

You try take the positives. It’s easy to let your head go down and say ‘I should have done this’. You just have to take responsibility and move on, say it never worked. I’ve definitely learned a lot from it.

The feeling of players knowing they’re wanted by the manager and part of their plans going forward is key. I feel that with the manager here. He was keen three years ago to bring me in and he’s always been there. Hopefully I can repay him and bring success to the club and the squad.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

De Bock to link up with Pardew

Laurens De Bock had his loan spell with Sunderland terminated earlier in the month, with the Leeds United loanee keen to return to his homeland.

Rather than a move to Belgium, the left-back will link up with former Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew who is now the manager at Dutch outfit ADO Den Haag.

According to Voetbal International, De Bock will sign for the Eredivisie side on loan and will link up with Middlesbrough’s Sam Stubbs who also linked up with Pardew at the Cars Jeans Stadion.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images