Skip to main content

Roker Report

Sunderland AFC's foremost blog and Podcast!

Total reads

4,563

This week

3

Rank

#31 of 427

Published

1,765 posts

Most read posts

Featured on Sportsblogs

Run this blog? Add the badge to your site to show readers you're featured — it links back to this page.

Featured on Sportsblogs

Latest Entries

How(e) To Get It Wrong!

The horrific images that have accompanied the launch of ‘the Visitors’ new Adidas home shirt serve as a salutary reminder of just how much Sunderland AFC are getting right in so many areas of the club. On the pitch, things could not have gone any better – a talented and committed squad (many of whom […]

Who Was Sunderland’s Best Find — And Which 25/26 Away Day Stood Out?

Alex Charlton says… Sunderland’s surprise package: Robin Roefs According to reports, we’d missed out on several goalkeeping targets and given how little I knew about him, the division he was playing in and his price tag, I had my reservations about his ability. To be honest, I was also slightly disappointed that Anthony Patterson was […]

Jack Ross at Sunderland – Success, Failure or Something Between?

Today marks the birthday of our former manager Jack Ross, a figure whose time on Wearside continues to divide opinion among supporters as to whether it was a successful tenure or not. While his reign ultimately ended in disappointment, Ross also played an important role in stabilising the club during one of the most turbulent […]

Roly Gregoire, Roker Park, and a Day I Cannot Forget

I have found myself in the last week or so comparing and contrasting the best of my sixty years of supporting the Lads. It has been a great way to idle away sunny afternoons in my retirement. I am a Sunderland supporter of unquestionable allegiance. Through thick and thin, win or lose, this club has […]

Sunderland’s Evolution Is Continuing Apace

The winds of change are blowing at Sunderland once again. Another end-of-season detox, more reflections on the campaign that’s just finished and on Tuesday evening, an emotional farewell statement from Dennis Cirkin, confirming his Wearside exit. The long-serving left back’s final bow hardly came as a surprise following a 2025/2026 season during which he found […]

Sunderland Must Seize The Chance They’ve Been Given!

After two of the most amazing seasons in our recent history, most of us can scarcely believe how far we’ve come from the not-so-long ago days of League One. Going back over sixty years or more Sunderland have typically followed up a season of promotion from the second tier with an objective no greater than […]

Was Sunderland’s 2025/2026 Campaign Underrated Or Unappreciated?

The winner of the Premier League ‘Manager of the Season’ award is pretty inevitable these days, with eleven of the past twelve winners being in charge of the team that won the title, yet when there’s this much predictability, it does raise the question of whether there’s much meaning in this award. Mikel Arteta picked […]

Sunderland Linked With €25m Player-Plus-Cash Offer For Spain International Winger

Osasuna winger Victor Muñoz is a player in demand this summer, following an eye-catching season in La Liga, despite his club finishing just outside the relegation zone. Sunderland have previously been linked with him, Newcastle United are said to have made a bid for the player, and Real Madrid had been rumored to be interested […]

The Red And White Wall: A Tribute To The Lads’ 25/26 Defence!

I started this piece with the intention of trying to work out who our best defensive signing of the season had been and it didn’t take me long to realise what a pointless exercise that was — it would’ve been a discussion that was unlikely to reach a consensus, such is the quality of player […]

Racism in Football & Society

This has been a truly remarkable season for Sunderland fans, reaching our highest Premier League points total for 25 years, which ended with the team qualifying for Europe. We exceeded expectations on all fronts, and recruitment over the past 12 months has been a very strong point. As fans, we have savoured many great victories […]

Reader’s Corner: Ahead of Schedule – And Finally Trusting the Sunderland Process

Schedules matter. You set goals and you try to hit them. As a fanbase, we’ve been through a spell where our ambitions got completely torn apart. We were humbled. In League One, people accused us of arrogance, and I remember feeling a bit taken aback that Wycombe players were taking the piss out of us. […]

Dennis Cirkin Deserves a Fond Farewell from Sunderland

Whilst we’re all dusting off our passports and getting ready for a European adventure in 2026/27, it’s easy to forget about the players who’ve helped, in some way, lay the foundations. Although the news that broke directly from Dennis Cirkin – that he would be leaving the club when his contract comes to an end […]

A Summer Without Sunderland? Not a Chance

On Saturday night, I sat down to watch the Champions League final, and you might find this odd, but I couldn’t really care less about Champions League footy and have never really paid much attention to it, so the fact I even bothered to put the match on was a change of pace for me. […]

On This Day (3rd June 1889): The Day Sunderland Found Tom Watson

“As a matter of fact, I found him eventually in a pub. He looked distressed and down at heel. He said to me, ‘Well ye beggor Jack, what’s th’deeing heor hinny’.” And so began the career of Sunderland’s most successful manager (to date). The football club that became Sunderland AFC had crept rather than sprung […]

“HANDS OFF!” — Who Sunderland SHOULDN’T Sell This Summer

Calum Mills says… The one player I can see being pinched is Noah Sadiki. He’s every top four club’s dream central midfielder due to his engine, dynamism and tenacity. There were strong comparisons to N’Golo Kante at the start of the season and I easily think he could surpass him as a player. Whether it’s […]

Haway The Podcast | Roker Rewind | Finding Roly | With Jeff Brown

Welcome to a very special episode of Haway The Podcast, as Jeff Brown joins Martin and Andrew to discuss his new documentary, Finding Roly (which is available on BBC iPlayer!) In today’s podcast, we cover All this and more! Get subscribed to Haway The Podcast so you never miss another episode of our free daily […]

On This Day (2nd June 2022): Sunderland Hopeful Of Re-signing Dion Sanderson!

During Lee Johnson’s tenure, much was spoken about the leakiness of the Sunderland defence and the way their exciting attacking football was sometimes counteracted by their vulnerability at the back. Many defenders came and went during the Johnson era but few made as much of an impression at the Stadium of Light as Dion Sanderson. […]

Lazy Pundits, Again

What a truly tremendous season that has just ended. Emulating Peter Reid’s 7th-placed finishes in 2000 and 2001. At the beginning of the season, most commentators and pundits were writing Sunderland off. With a few notable exceptions, the lads were almost unanimously tipped to return from whence they came. You’d think that once the club […]

Reader’s Corner: “Magic Memories On A Sunny Sunday Afternoon!”

I’m extremely lucky that I have a very understanding wife. The fact that she puts up with me for the other 364 days of the year is proof of that, but I’m certain that on Sunday, there would’ve been many a husband hearing the words, “You’re not going to the match today — it’s our […]

Enzo Le Fée Is Sunderland’s Orchestrator Supreme

In any sport — whether team or solo, played with a ball, in a swimming pool or on a racetrack — there’s always tremendous joy to be found in watching an athlete at the peak of their performance curve, seemingly unaffected by outside pressure, self doubt, or the standard of the opposition. From the outside […]