Jack Ross has been chatting about the pros and cons of the loan system but feels that in Jerome Sinclair he has a good egg. “The loan market is interesting, my opinion as a manager has always been that you’ll get more misses than hits,” he said. “I’ve always felt that way from my own experiences. I think that season-long loans are good, much better than shorter-term as you do then see them as your player. Then you have to look at where the player is at and where they’re going. Jerome I think is at the stage where he really needs to come here and show how good a player he is because of how things have gone for him in the last couple of years. I spoke to Brendan Rodgers at length about him because it was Brendan who gave him his debut at Liverpool. The way he spoke about him as a person and a character convinced me that he’d be a good fit here. He’s a really nice young man, bright, intelligent. He really enjoys being here. He’s one of the few that we have that lengthens the game for us, and we’ll need that. His strength is good because he can hold players off and when you work with him every day, you see that his finishing is really good. He’s quite similar to Josh [Maja] in that he hits the target a lot and does it with real venom. If you look at his career history, for us it is about making him robust enough for the week in, week out because that’s not something he has ever really had. That’s probably why he is here with us on loan. From day one I really liked him. The loan ones can be a little more difficult but right from day one I liked his maturity and you get the sense that he really enjoys what we do on the training pitch. That injury was a frustrating one for him because I think he feels that this really is the right fit, to start moving upwards again because you can see that he’s got all the right attributes again.”
Jack Ross also expanded a little on the Papy Djilobodji situation and feels that nothing will be decided on the player’s future without his consultation. “I’ve been consistent in saying that a resolution would help,” said Ross. “We’ve said that for a while now, and that is still the case. The club will make a decision, but they very much take counsel from me and where I’m at. The great thing about Stewart is that he’s done that from day one. I don’t want to go back over old ground, but there were various different situations that we inherited, and nothing has ever been forced upon me, which has been really encouraging. That’s how Stewart is as an owner, and from a personal point of view, I get on with him really well. He’s very open in his communication, and would never force a decision upon me. If there was something he felt was for the greater good of the club, then we’d have a discussion about it. Ultimately, he’s the owner, but the relationship is good, and if and when that ever became an issue, then we would discuss it properly.”
In other news, Tom Flanagan, who is expected to start alongside Jack Baldwin in the heart of defence against Fleetwood, reckons that the players are ready to bounce back from our disappointing display against Oxford and will be looking for three points against Joey Barton’s boys. “You look at other teams in this league and the league above, who have made 10-12 changes, and they are struggling a little bit. So, for us to have made the start we have is fantastic. If we weren’t everyone Sunderland everyone would be talking about us, but because we are it’s expected. It’s good to watch, we are playing a good brand of football. I don’t think we are necessarily the best passing team in the league, but we are definitely the most streetwise. We got caught up in it a little bit last weekend, against Oxford. but we have learnt our lessons now. For me it was really good to be finally be out there. I have been cooped up for a while having played all the minutes in pre-season and missing out on the main event. It was good to get out there even though it wasn’t in the league. I felt like I had done ok and I feel alright now so I’m just looking forward to making the next few steps. It all came at the wrong time but there’s another way of looking at it, I’d much rather get this injury now rather than halfway through the season or at the business end. I wanted to be out there for the first game of the season because everyone was saying how good the atmosphere was going to be. It just motivates you when you are sitting in the gym with the physio while everyone is out training and preparing, they are the kind of things you think about. It was nice to finally play at the stadium on Tuesday night, against Stoke, to get that monkey off my back and hopefully now I can do it when there are 30,000 people there. There is a good mood in the camp at the minute, it makes coming in every day when you are injured easier because you have not got to worry about running around being positive because everyone is just on a positive vibe.”
Jack Ross also gave an injury update ahead of Fleetwood’s visit. “Both (Glenn Loovens and Adam Matthews) are very close and will be in consideration for the weekend,” he said. “It’s just about balancing up what they’ve done recently and what other options we have available. Beyond that, that only leaves us with Aiden (McGeady) and Duncan (Watmore). This is probably the most positive Aiden has been in terms of reacting to the work he has done. He has had several setbacks, but this is the furthest he has been done the line to getting back to full fitness. Duncan has continued to progress well but the thing with Duncan is that while we all want him to be back we have a duty of care because he has had two serious injuries. We need to make sure he is eased back in, but he is getting ever closer and he is positive about how he is progressing.”
Our allocation for Coventry City has been upped from 1,903 tickets and a further 3,903 and tickets will now be sold via the following schedule: Season card holders with 10 or more points, from 9am until 4.30pm Monday 10 September. All remaining season card holders, from 9am until 4.30pm Tuesday 11 September. A general sale of tickets for all supporters will commence from 9am on Wednesday 12 September, subject to availability. Prices: Adults £22; Over 60/ Under 22/ NUS £15; Under 18 - £10.
