Dear Roker Report,

Followed your ‘worst team’ feature with interest - I agreed with some, and thought you were harsh with others.

I was surprised, unless I missed them, that neither Lilian Laslandes or Tore Andre Flo never got a mention - the thought of either of them replacing Sir Niall was just laughable!

One thing that struck me was almost all of your choices were in the last 25-30 years. I am, just about, old enough to remember Peter Wakeham in goal and yearning that his successor was miles better! It is fair to say that Jimmy Montgomery was!

Any of your older readers remember any stinkers, or maybe some their dads or grandads told them about?

Andrew Bailey

Ed’s Note [Gav]: That’s the problem with being a Sunderland fan Andrew - we could have done another twelve rounds of that feature and made another bunch of teams! It’s fair to say we’ve signed some absolute shite over the years.

Would be interested to see people’s squads comprised of players we never picked.

Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images

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Dear Roker Report,

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your selections in respect of players who have struggled to impress us :-) along with your justifications!

It is a sad reflection on an almost constant problem in terms of recruitment for too many years - let’s hope that our new regime makes a better fist of it.

A few who slipped through the net were: Carsten Fredgaard (£1.5m - 1 game), Nicolas Medina (£3.5m no league appearances and 1 cup game), Chimbonda & El Hadji Diouf - too many to choose from - that’s the trouble!

Kind regards & all the best,

Alan Pieroni

Ed’s Note [Gav]: I actually picked two right backs in my side - Donald Love and Gareth Hall - though had a bunch of others that were amongst my reserves in case I missed out on either of the other two! Chimbonda was a character, wasn’t he? He didn’t do particularly great for us but I still think he had some good games. Diouf too, who was also a tit but he did play great against the mags when we beat them 2-1.

Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

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Dear Roker Report,

Something caught my eye the other day regarding the current Euro 2020 games.

Now someone else may have sent a similar thing in previously, but here goes.

So how many ex-Sunderland players are currently playing or on the bench at the Euros>

Now I have at least eight players (these included loan players)

• Pickford
• Gordon
• McLaughlin
• Mignolet
• Henderson
• Williams
• Larsson
• Denayer

Not a bad collection of players - yes, some did not do too well at SAFC, but come on, they’re at the Euros and playing international football.

So can you think or find any others?

Looking forward to the fixture release on Thursday.

Paul

Ed’s Note [Gav]: PAUL! How could you forget about Ondrej Celustka?! Actually... yeah, he was totally forgettable. I remember him for two things - hitting the bar against Fulham, and the picture at the top of this article of him eating Pasta in the bath whilst wearing a wooly hat.

There’s also Patrick van Aanholt! I probably forgot someone else too.

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