BY ALS

Happy Days

Updated: Aug 1, 2023

Well I’m losing count of the number of signings we’ve made, but apparently, we are after another forward, which will make it a cool dozen!

Jack Ross may be delighted and relieved to have finally brought in Charlie Wyke, but he’s not finished in transfer market yet. "I think that we probably could still do with a little bit more strength in depth in certain areas. I’d also be loathed to say that no more will leave. I think that Callum's [McManaman] departure shows how quickly things can change, particularly with the permanent window closing so quickly this year. That may affect us and other clubs. If there were any more outs then that would influence what we need to bring in. Certainly, if the window was to shut now we’re in lot stronger than we might have imagined we would be, we've done a heck of lot of work to get into a reasonable position going into the first game. I'm naturally delighted, it was well documented that we'd pursued him for a while. We had to remain patient, it would have been easy to move on quickly because you run the risk of potentially missing out on other players, but we always believed we'd get him (Wyke), he wanted to come here as well which was an important part of it. We hope [he'll be available] sooner rather than later, he should be back involved with me in the next three weeks. It might take a little longer but that's the aim. He's desperate to be involved because his injury record and his appearance record over the last few years is very good. We've had to prepare all pre-season without a number nine so having him not available, I'd much prefer to have him but we are used to it after the pre-season campaign.”

Meanwhile, Charlie Wyke is over the moon to be at Sunderland, we just need to get him fit now! He said: “It has been a frustrating few weeks getting it sorted. I am just delighted to finally get it over the line. Now I am just happy to be able to concentrate on my football. Obviously, I am on social media. So, I have had some abuse, some nice words and messages from fans of other clubs I have been linked with. But I am happy it is all sorted. There have been a lot of announce Wyke hastags so it is nice to see that the fans want me. I am really happy with it - I am really happy to be in the North East. Hopefully I will bring a lot of goals. A few good performances would not go amiss, too. I can’t wait to get out the physio room. I am not the type who gets injured a lot so it’s been frustrating. Hopefully I can put that all behind me. Coming from the north east, I know exactly how much it means to people. The one thing that everybody wants here is promotion, so we have to get that and win as many games as we can.”

With injury concerns over Ton Flanagan, Ethan Robson and Dylan McGeouch, Jack Ross is weighing up whether to hand debuts to Jack Baldwin and Luke O’Nien on Saturday, despite the pair not featuring in pre season because their late arrivals. Ross said: “Fitness-wise, they are OK. They have come from other clubs so they have been involved in pre-season, which is different to a free agent who might be catching up fitness-wise. The exception is Jerome who is still playing catch-up because he was really on the periphery at Watford, but the other two lads would have been part of what their clubs were trying to do for the start of the season. It’s more a case of adjusting to how we play and how we do things. They’ve both trained this week and they are both very much in contention because I have no issues over their fitness or their ability to handle the game. Jack has had loads of games at this level and Luke is someone who the fans will enjoy watching play because he has ridiculously high energy levels. Tuesday was the first day he [O’Nien] trained with us properly and he is different to what we have got.”

In other news, here’s the squad numbers for the coming season

1. Jon McLaughlin

2. Adam Matthews

3. Bryan Oviedo

4. Glenn Loovens

5. Alim Oztuk

6. Lee Cattermole

7. Chris Maguire

8. Dylan McGeouch

9. Charlie Wyke

10. George Honeyman

11. Lynden Gooch