Despite rumours to the contrary, Stewart Donald reckons that the takeover process is 'moving on at pace.' Donald said: "It's moving on. Lots to do but getting there now! I don't know (when it will be ratified) but the EFL are responding quickly all the time and it seems to be moving on well. They are on it. Will have to see - fingers crossed won't be too long before we all know. Things are moving on at pace behind the scenes. EFL are responding quickly so good on them. Hopefully be some news soon. Fingers crossed for a quick conclusion from here."
So, after retiring from international football, John O’Shea reckons that he has one more season in him, despite being out of contract. He said: “We just wait and see, I’m out of contract at the end of June. When I signed last season, I thought we’ll see how the body copes. I played more than I thought but we’ll wait and see. The last couple of years have not gone to plan for the club and that goes for the players as well, it has been hugely frustrating. It’s a fantastic club it is and fingers crossed it gets sorted as soon as possible with the new owner and a new manager, because we showed at stages last season, not enough obviously, that we could get results. The backlog of injuries, signings, changing of managers has caught up with the club and it has been a terrible downwards spiral. Hopefully the EFL approval goes through.”
O’Shea also discussed his decision to retire from international football. He said: “I’d spoken to Martin O’Neill previously, the games against Denmark in particular, he was probably aware that I wouldn’t go on for the next campaign, the ideal scenario was to go to Russia. That would have been the plan but once that was out the way, I just wanted to get the season out of the way. I spoke to Martin and he said ‘what about being captain for the USA game’ and I thought that would be a nice way to finish things up.”
Despite the season only just finishing, Luke Molyneux can’t wait to start all over again! “There’s probably going to be quite a lot of change this summer. A lot of things will probably happen, but depending on who the manager is, you’d think there might be a chance for some more of us young players to get a chance in the team. All I need to do now is focus on pre-season because I think pre-season is going to be massive for me. It’s going to be a huge part of my season because that’s what sets you off. I want to come back at the start of next season. I’m looking forward to pre-season already because the experience of playing at the Stadium of Light was amazing. It gives you a massive buzz, so I just can’t wait to come back in and hopefully get another chance. Hopefully, the new owner saw that the fans are amazing, and also saw that we gave it everything we’ve got. We don’t just walk around and accept what’s been going on, we give it our all. Hopefully, he’s seen that and he’ll see it again next season and we’ll get straight back up into the Championship.”
To celebrate being complete and utter shite once again, we’re bringing bring back this classic t-shirt from the 05/06 season. Looking back to those halcyon days under Mick McCarthy when we managed to amass an incredible 15 points to see us relegated from the Premier League.
Don’t worry we will reach those lofty heights again but until then we can take comfort in the fact that we’re all... still here when we are shit! Hardcore fans and Sunderland till we die, whichever league we are in and whoever owns the club. Players, manager and chairman come and go. Fans remain. We are the club… click here to view product
