Genuinely one of the most sad/depressing things I’ve heard in years

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Panhead said:
I wrote about this when it happened around three years ago.

Friend of mine has a very talented son, at the time the three 'big' north east clubs were wanting him for the academies aged 9.

Mate is a Sunderland fan, so was delighted when the scout approached him. He was invited to the AOL for a look around etc etc. Can't remember the time, but we'll say he was asked to be there for 10am for arguments sake. They sat in reception for nearly an hour. When one of the coaches finally showed up to take him around, there was no apology, no acknowledgement of their lateness, he got a very rushed tour, then left in reception after being told someone will be in touch.

They went to Newcastle and got treat like royalty, nothing was a bother to them. He signed for Newcastle purely because of how SAFC treated his son on the day. He's still at NUFC and absolutely thriving.

Sunderland got in touch about 3 weeks after original tour. They were told where to go.

Folks rave about our academy but it's an absolute farce.
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That could be an isolated incident though. I used to work with a bloke who was a dyed-in-the-wool Newcastle fan who hated all things Sunderland. When both clubs came in for his son, he insisted that he joined Sunderland based on how we handle youngsters and make education an important part of their development.

Haway 501 said:
Haway lads, it's a bloody awful article that gives little in the way of facts but seems to take delight in kicking the club.
For a so called fans site, Roker Report does little in the way of support.
Don't suppose this will be a popular opinion but there you go...
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Standard Roker Report nonsense. Lots of opinion and conjecture, no actual facts
 


Haway 501 said:
Haway lads, it's a bloody awful article that gives little in the way of facts but seems to take delight in kicking the club.
For a so called fans site, Roker Report does little in the way of support.
Don't suppose this will be a popular opinion but there you go...
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I think that Roker Report site as a load of scurrilous shite like. Always attributing to "unnamed sources" etc.
 
Panhead said:
I wrote about this when it happened around three years ago.

Friend of mine has a very talented son, at the time the three 'big' north east clubs were wanting him for the academies aged 9.

Mate is a Sunderland fan, so was delighted when the scout approached him. He was invited to the AOL for a look around etc etc. Can't remember the time, but we'll say he was asked to be there for 10am for arguments sake. They sat in reception for nearly an hour. When one of the coaches finally showed up to take him around, there was no apology, no acknowledgement of their lateness, he got a very rushed tour, then left in reception after being told someone will be in touch.

They went to Newcastle and got treat like royalty, nothing was a bother to them. He signed for Newcastle purely because of how SAFC treated his son on the day. He's still at NUFC and absolutely thriving.

Sunderland got in touch about 3 weeks after original tour. They were told where to go.

Folks rave about our academy but it's an absolute farce.
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GB?? Or do I know someone else this happened too?
 
Interesting read as it is rare for fans to get any insight into goings on at the AOL. When reading the article I noticed that there was no mention of comment from the club. I wondered if anyone from RR is able to confirm whether the article was put to the club for comment before publishing?

Edit- I did want to ask this question directly to RR but Twitter seems the only way of getting in touch
 
Mad if true. Fair enough Hendo (didn't Keano have to step in personally because we were gonna fuck him off?) and Pickford netted us 50 mill, but that's no great shakes when people like Andre Gray are going for £20 mill when they have a year left on their contract now. Like I said on another thread, when's the last time we brought through a centre half or a right back that's played at first time level for 40, 50 plus games? Going beyond the financial, if the club is forcing young lads just starting out in their career to train on their own, that's simply shameful.
 
Quote from there...

"At present, Sunderland only have one academy graduate out on loan."

Utter bullshit. I can name at least 3 just off the top of my head, Ledger, Stryjek and Tommy Robson.
 
TDalt said:
Mad if true. Fair enough Hendo (didn't Keano have to step in personally because we were gonna fuck him off?) and Pickford netted us 50 mill, but that's no great shakes when people like Andre Gray are going for £20 mill when they have a year left on their contract now. Like I said on another thread, when's the last time we brought through a centre half or a right back that's played at first time level for 40, 50 plus games? Going beyond the financial, if the club is forcing young lads just starting out in their career to train on their own, that's simply shameful.
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Darren Holloway? Dickie Ord? Embarrassing isn't it?

Dagzd1973 said:
Quote from there...

"At present, Sunderland only have one academy graduate out on loan."

Utter bullshit. I can name at least 3 just off the top of my head, Ledger, Stryjek and Tommy Robson.
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Where's Tommy Robson? I assume they aren't counting Stryjek as an Academy product as we signed him from Plymouth. Or they forgot about him and got it wrong.
 
Interesting read as it is rare for fans to get any insight into goings on at the AOL. When reading the article I noticed that there was no mention of comment from the club. I wondered if anyone from RR is able to confirm whether the article was put to the club for comment before publishing?

Edit- I did want to ask this question directly to RR but Twitter seems the only way of getting in touch
 
Paddy O'Dors said:
I think that Roker Report site as a load of scurrilous shite like. Always attributing to "unnamed sources" etc.
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If I can answer as the author of the article, nothing in the piece is "scurrilous" or intended to be so. Research and verification is integral to what we try to do.

We only seek to raise issues for debate as an independent group of fans and hope that our fellow supporters recognise this.
 
mikemanc said:
Darren Holloway? Dickie Ord? Embarrassing isn't it?


Where's Tommy Robson? I assume they aren't counting Stryjek as an Academy product as we signed him from Plymouth. Or they forgot about him and got it wrong.
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Looks like Robson is back here. Stryjek never played for Plymouth (?), we signed him in 2013 from some Polish team.

That article is riddled with mistakes.
 
Dagzd1973 said:
Looks like Robson is back here. Stryjek never played for Plymouth (?), we signed him in 2013 from some Polish team.

That article is riddled with mistakes.
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Don't know where I got Plymouth from, but we signed him as a 17 year old so he might be excluded on that basis. Or they got it wrong. It reads like a mischief making article although I'm sure some people will have suffered the things mentioned, the Ledger case in particular is a joke.
 
Arcane Jesh said:
If I can answer as the author of the article, nothing in the piece is "scurrilous" or intended to be so. Research and verification is integral to what we try to do.

We only seek to raise issues for debate as an independent group of fans and hope that our fellow supporters recognise this.
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As a group you do a good job of hiding this through your constant sniping, piss taking and unsubstantiated 'articles' that do nothing but criticise the club and show little in the way of support.
 
Angelos said:
Interesting read as it is rare for fans to get any insight into goings on at the AOL. When reading the article I noticed that there was no mention of comment from the club. I wondered if anyone from RR is able to confirm whether the article was put to the club for comment before publishing?

Edit- I did want to ask this question directly to RR but Twitter seems the only way of getting in touch
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Happy to answer this point.

Roker Report has repeatedly requested a press contact to seek comment from Sunderland AFC on our content.

The response to date has been that the club have no desire to "legitimise a fanzine" by commenting.
 
TDalt said:
Mad if true. Fair enough Hendo (didn't Keano have to step in personally because we were gonna fuck him off?) and Pickford netted us 50 mill, but that's no great shakes when people like Andre Gray are going for £20 mill when they have a year left on their contract now. Like I said on another thread, when's the last time we brought through a centre half or a right back that's played at first time level for 40, 50 plus games? Going beyond the financial, if the club is forcing young lads just starting out in their career to train on their own, that's simply shameful.
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Very much this.
 
Haway 501 said:
As a group you do a good job of hiding this through your constant sniping, piss taking and unsubstantiated 'articles' that do nothing but criticise the club and show little in the way of support.
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See above. I'm not in the habit of piss taking, sniping or making unsubstantiated claims.
 
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