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Dear Roker Report,
As 2025 draws to a close, what a year it’s been!
Memorable moments and great atmospheres in the Sunderland family — who can forget Dan Ballard against Coventry, Tommy Watson at Wembley and the celebrations?
West Ham first up in the Premier League: three points, a clean sheet, and up and running.
The momentum just keeps going and next up it’s Newcastle at home, where a win would complete 2025 on a footballing front.
Let’s go “Til the End”, ramp up the volume, and enjoy Sunday like it’s 2025.
Haway the
lads!
Mark
Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, Mark. Thank you for your letter.
As memorable Sunderland-related years go, I’d rank 2025 up there with 1997, 1999, 2006 and 2022 as one of the most notable of the last three decades. Promotion to the Premier League — and the manner in which it was achieved — was something that we’ll always remember and as you say, there have been so many standout moments over the past twelve months!
The club feels like it’s in a very good place right now, with genuine aspirations of real and sustained progress over the coming seasons.
It’ll be interesting to see how we approach the January transfer window and how strongly we eventually finish the season, but I’m feeling optimistic about what lies ahead and I have a lot of confidence in both Régis Le Bris and his players — they’ve done us proud so far and there’s no reason it can’t continue into 2026 and beyond!
Dear Roker Report,
No panic! We’re still newcomers to this league and every game is a learning curve.
Man City are a great team and it was always going to be a tough afternoon, especially with Arsenal losing and so giving them a massive boost.
Disappointing of course, but we’ll see a much better team performance when we play the skunks. I’m still with the same thought I had before the season started: forty points and don’t get relegated (of course!).
Keep the faith. FTM. ’Til the end — always.
John Robson
Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, John. Thank you for getting in touch.
Saturday was certainly a challenging afternoon for the Lads but I also thought that as a learning experience against an elite side at their best, it was a worthwhile exercise and not an entirely wasted day.
City were excellent; very slick and organised, and it really did illustrate the step up in quality that you experience as a newly-promoted side at this level.
Our season was never going to be defined by trips to the Etihad Stadium, and anything we took from that game would’ve been a bonus. We’ve got more important games to come — games from which we need to target a solid haul of points — and that begins with the visit of Newcastle on Sunday.
Dear Roker Report,
I don’t understand why some people are obsessed about this player or that player starting a match. To me, it makes no difference if the Lads get a result.
In this day and age, it’s a squad game and therefore it’s irrelevant who actually starts — we should trust the manager.
Michael Ohuigin
Ed’s Note [Phil]: Hi, Michael. Thank you for your letter.
The good thing about Sunderland’s current squad depth is that we’re gradually edging towards a position whereby we can make changes without a drastic drop off in quality — and that’s priceless at this level.
With the likes of Chris Rigg and Romaine Mundle available, Régis Le Bris has excellent options in most areas, and I suspect that we’ll look to strengthen even further in January in order to give the head coach as much depth as he needs as the season eventually builds towards its climax.
Not a bad position to be in, to say the least!
