Roker Report
Sunderland AFC's foremost blog and Podcast!
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Andy’s Player Ratings: Accrington Stanley 3 (3) -3 (1) Sunderland u21 – Entertaining Game But Home Side Win On Penalties
Joe Cowan: 5/10 Made a fantastic save late on as it looked like we were going to hold onto the win but then saw an effort spin in off his hand for the equaliser. Will be disappointed with the first goal too, spilling a relatively soft shot into the path of an opposition player. Unfortunately […]
Haway The Podcast | INTERVIEW | We Catch Up With Denver Hume!
It was a bit chaotic to say the least during the years that Denver Hume climbed the ranks through the Academy of Light to become a first team player! But we caught up with him to talk all about his time at the club! Get subscribed to Haway The Podcast so you never miss another […]
Sunderland’s International Break: Where Are the Lads in Action?
Sunderland played five matches in 16 days this month, but now we have to endure 19 consecutive days without watching the Black Cats during a supersized international window – the first since 12 Black Cats represented their countries at the World Cup. At last count, 16 Sunderland players – including one you’ll barely believe – […]
Why Sunderland Fans Shouldn’t Be Worried Just Yet
Heading into the international break, we sit in 14th place, one point above the drop zone, with a grand total of four points, so should we be worried? It seems a section of the fan base is, and that leaves me baffled. I suggest there is one reason alone we are in this precarious (not!) […]
Sunderland Stand Tall Against A Soulless Club
Sunderland were open, attacking, and brave at the Etihad Stadium, and it was this expansiveness that led to us conceding goals we’d usually not. We fell behind three times and levelled twice, and for periods of the match we pinned back one of the best teams in the world with a high press which they […]
OTD (22/9/1999): Sunderland’s 2025 Playoff Semi-Final Hero Is Born
Daniel George Ballard was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, on this day in 1999. At the age of eight, he joined Arsenal’s academy and, despite being released twice by the Gunners, was accepted for a scholarship at sixteen following an impressive appearance away at Bayern Munich in a friendly. He signed his first professional contract in […]
Haway The Podcast | Monday Supplement | Man City Debrief
Gav and Martin were joined by the Sunderland Echo’s Jason Jones to go through Sunderland’s 5-3 defeat at Manchester City yesterday. On the agenda today… All this and more! Get subscribed to Haway The Podcast so you never miss another episode of our free daily Sunderland show. Ready to have an AI that can tackle […]
Talking Points: Reasons To Be Optimistic Despite Loss In Etihad Slobberknocker
Sunday’s clash with Manchester City was every inch One For The Neutrals, with eight goals, some lovely football, two teams who didn’t know when to stop attacking and some VAR controversy thrown in to season the whole lot. However, the thing with Ones For The Neutrals is that somebody has to come away disappointed and […]
OTD (21/09/1976): Clubs Queue Up As Sunderland’s Skipper Hands In Transfer Request
A lot has been said in recent weeks about not playing in Europe for 53 years, but it’s interesting looking back at how things didn’t really go to plan in the 1973/74 season. We all know that Bob Stokoe had pulled off a miracle by winning the FA Cup after taking the job, but he […]
Editorial: Rollercoaster Of A Week For Sunderland Should Fill Us With Pride
Proud of the Lads… Well, what a week it’s been. As much as I dislike them, it feels like we could do with a three week break after the last nine days or so because the Lads have taken us on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. We could see on paper that it was […]
2 Up, 2 Down: Sunderland And Man City Play Out A High-Scoring Classic
Calum Mills says… Brian Brobbey’s brilliance Hold up play, integration, finishing…he had it all. Bittersweet that we didn’t take all three points, but he was brilliant. It’s like he’s finally recovered from his World Cup efforts. Le Fée, Fofana and Methalie catch the eye Enzo Le Fée was phenomenal in the first half. The assist […]
Matchday Musings: Sunderland Fall Short In An Eight-Goal Etihad Thriller
When I put my name on the rota to write this particular edition of Musings, I certainly wasn’t expecting to be reflecting on a game that featured eight goals, some brilliant attacking play, several defensive howlers and the first Sunderland hat-trick at Premier League level for a decade. However, as we head into the international […]
Haway The Podcast | MATCH REACTION | Man City 5-3 SAFC | Were The Lads Unlucky To Lose?
It was a bit of a rollercoaster, but join Chris, Bomber & James as they give their immediate reaction after the final whistle of Sunderland’s visit to the Etihad! Get subscribed to Haway The Podcast so you never miss another episode of our free daily Sunderland show. All this and more! Get subscribed to Haway […]
Haway The Podcast | MATCH REACTION | Man City 5-3 SAFC | Were The Lads Unlucky To Lose?
It was a bit of a rollercoaster, but join Chris, Bomber & James as they give their immediate reaction after the final whistle to Sunderland’s visit to the Etihad! Get subscribed to Haway The Podcast so you never miss another episode of our free daily Sunderland show. All this and more! Get subscribed to Haway […]
Andy’s Player Ratings: Man City 5-3 Sunderland – Brobbey hattrick in vain in eight goal thriller
Robin Roefs: 5/10 City were extremely clinical today but got to be disappointed when almost every shot on goal ends up in the back of the net. Made a good save late on from O’Reilly. Nordi Mukiele: 6/10 Combined well with Meunier down the right but got in a bit of a mix up for […]
Haway The Podcast | Can Sunderland Shock Man City? | MATCH PREVIEW
Sunderland head to the Etihad on Sunday to face Manchester City in their final game before the international break. Fresh from a historic Europa League victory over AZ Alkmaar, can Régis Le Bris’ side pull off another huge result against one of the Premier League’s biggest sides? Manchester City have made a perfect start to […]
Starting XI: Is This The Sunderland Team To Take On Manchester City?
After Wednesday’s win in our debut Europa Cup game we’ve got one of the toughest Premier League fixtures to round off our opening spell of fixtures before this long international break. Anything we get today is something of a bonus, but with four points from our opening four league games we could do with getting […]
OTD (20/09/1947): Sunderland Win Amidst Intense Speculation
Whilst Sunderland’s form at the start of the 1947-48 season was poor there was money in the coffers for team strengthening, and so manager Bill Murray was working overtime in order to track down suitable reinforcements. The Lads were playing at Blackpool on this day and the boss arrived on the coast having gone the […]
A Fiery Return To European Competition for The Lads
Wednesday night had all the hallmarks of an occasion we’ll never forget. The Stadium of Light was electric long time before kick-off and this was an electricity that had flowed through the city for hours. As music blared and fireworks filled the Wearside sky, from the moment the display was unveiled in the Roker End, […]
Fan Letters: The Quest for Barnes and Benno Part IV – The Search Is Over!
Want to have your say on all things Sunderland? Drop us a line and we’ll publish your views! [email protected] Dear Roker Report, An email arrived on Monday, entitled ‘Membership Monday’, and contained all sorts of links to bits of the Sunderland website, including ‘Live Commentary’. Things began to look promising. There was no active live […]
Match Preview: Manchester City v Sunderland — Tough Test For The Lads Ahead Of The Break
Wednesday 16th September 2026 Manchester City v Sunderland – Premier League Etihad Stadium – Kick-Off: 14:00 Match Coverage TV/Stream: Full live match coverage is available via Sky Sports. Radio: Full live match commentary available via BBC Radio Newcastle (not online) Don’t forget to follow the blow-by-blow account of the game on the Roker Report Twitter […]
Haway The Podcast | OPPO PREVIEW | Can Sunderland Avoid Defeat At City?!
It’s the last of the trilogy this week that began with the visit of Arsenal, which was followed by our first game in the Europa League – and now we have a tough test at Manchester City! It’s a stadium we’ve never won at so we spoke to Simon Bajkowski from the Manchester Evening News […]
Out of the Darkness, Into the Light
4th December, 2000 may be a date that means nothing to many reading this. It perhaps was just another day 26 years ago. Some may even recall there was a Sunderland game that day. Others may remember we beat Everton 2-0 that night, with Alex Rae and Super Kev scoring. However, to me, this date […]
TV View: Watching Sunderland In Europe From the Couch
It was moments like that when I hate my job. UEFA don’t take Irish Sunderland-supporting teachers into consideration when scheduling their team’s biggest game in many years. Did it have to be a Wednesday? Did it really have to be a Wednesday night? With the new term just beginning, I didn’t take one of my […]
Alan Hutton recalls ‘brilliant’ Sunderland Spell & Reflects On Career Rollercoaster
This article is brought to you in association with NetBet Sport. Alan Hutton spent just eleven games on Wearside, but the former Sunderland defender still looks back on his short spell with the club with enormous fondness. The Scot joined Sunderland on loan from Tottenham Hotspur during the 2009/10 season, making eleven appearances for Steve […]