Fan Letters: ‘The club are letting down an entire generation of supporters’

Dear Roker Report,

Who would have thought that SAFC vs Accrington Stanley (who are they? yeah yeah...) would be a top of the table clash? Not me, but it is, and we cannot take them lightly.

I watched them against Shrewsbury and I wasn’t really impressed but they were organised and that is going to be something we have to plan for.

John Coleman is a top manager and his players graft for him.

I think we should beat them, but we cannot stand off. We have to batter them from minute one and look for ways through their two organised banks of five.

What’s the best way to beat a team like that? Who knows... I hope LJ does!

KTF

Keith the Mackem

Ed’s Note [Martin]: It’ll be a tricky game Keith, no doubt, and we’ve not beaten Accrington at home since we’ve been down here. It’ll be a different challenge but if we want to go up we’ve got to be up to that challenge – I fully expect us to get the three points!

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

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Dear Roker Report,

Am I the only person feeling sorry for Lee Burge?

Named L1 keeper of the season in 20/21 yet everyone’s talking about his two young replacements. He’s been cast aside when he’s really earned more of a chance than that I think.

Patto is a great prospect but is he ready? And Hoffmann, well we have never seen this guy play so we can’t just throw all our expectancy behind him, right?

I still think Burgey has a future here even if others don’t.

Greg Smith

Ed’s Note [Martin]: Thanks for the email Greg. Ultimately, we always need to have the mentality that if we can bring in someone better in any position we do it (of course, ‘better’ spans on and off the field, long-term and short-term prospects). Burge has proved to be a decent League One keeper, but if Patterson or Hoffmann are better then the club will be better off playing them than not. Burge isn’t going to get any better, but Patterson and Hoffmann will. I believe a really good keeper will get us another 10 points during the season – surely that’d be worth it?

Photo by Mark Fletcher/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

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Dear Roker Report,

Why can the club not make exceptions for pensioners who don’t own smartphones or printers?! My mam and dad have always gone down the ticket office to buy their tickets but can’t do that anymore. They are both 88 years old and they’ve only just got their heads around using a landline... they both have smartphones but have no clue what to do on them besides make and take calls. I can help them but it’s not great is it? The club are letting down an entire generation who might not be as tech-savvy as the new system wants them to be. I wish more could be done instead of just cutting people off.

Daisy Mae Graham

Ed’s Note [Martin]: Cheers for getting in touch Daisy Mae, and I’m in full agreement with you. This whole ‘cashless’ and ‘ticketless’ seems to have been brought in without any thought about the older generation. It’s really poor, and while there’s been a lot of good things going on on the football side of things, there’s reason to be concerned about a few off-the-field things, including this – the club shop being another. Our new chief operating officer is a Sunderland supporter but I believe has little to no experience in professional sport before getting the job. It seems to be showing. Hopefully, lessons are learnt, and quickly.