Fan Letters: Will the coronavirus ban impact any potential ownership change at Sunderland?

Dear Roker Report,

Tuesday night was grey and blustery, packed into the standing area reminded me of the Roker End back in the day.

I was left reflecting that Bailey Wright’s absence is big issue, but we won three games in January before he arrived. Our forward line has been criticised, but we scored eighteen goals throughout Jan/Feb. Player fatigue has been mentioned but we have played fourteen games in ten weeks which shouldn’t be a problem. Furthermore, Parky was praised for creating a solid unit by picking the same players.

On Tuesday night our back three, Flanagan in particular persisted in hoofing the ball over our midfield to Lafferty/Wyke in the hope they could ‘do something’. Harry Kane would have struggled to create anything! Max Power was almost another defender in his attempts to bring the ball out from the back ‘on the floor’, but surely he should be available in midfield?

I left feeling that the players did not implement the pre- match plans. Too many of our players were not in the game due to our snowball method. As Mark Robbins said post Coventry game, “it was easier for us because Sunderland were mainly route one”.

Ian Cree

Ed’s Note [Gav]: Yep, I’ve noted recently that Parky really needs to work on his game-plan if/when the season resumes. Bailey Wright has definitely been a miss, and perhaps one unforeseen advantage of this ‘break’ is that we’ll probably have him back in the team for the final run of games, should the season resume from where it left off.

I’ve been a big supporter of Alim Ozturk, but I feel recently we’ve perhaps seen the bad side to him in that he’s not the commanding, leading presence this defence needs. Wright is a born leader and lives to kick and head the ball - we definitely wouldn’t have conceded the sloppy goals that we did against Bristol Rovers with him in the defence, for example.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Dear Roker Report,

Season ticket holder for many years but that is about to change if we don’t get promotion cannot bare to watch another season in League One.

Unfortunately with this manager I can’t see us going up; he’s got no plan B for when we are sussed out by opposition players. The team should’ve been rotated five games ago.

Is the owner looking to sell, or is he stalling to see if we go up to inflate the price?

The club is in a right mess.

Barry Pritchard

Ed’s Note [Gav]: I wonder whether this football ban might have an impact on the sale of the club. Why would anyone buy a club in such uncertain times? Perhaps potential owners might prefer to hold out until we know what is going to happen to this season. Does the price change if we remain in League One? This is unprecedented.