Make Sunderland Great Again

[leckuno]

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Founded in 1879, Sunderland are a professional English club currently playing in the Sky Bet League One. Over the last 2 seasons Sunderland have suffered a double relegation dropping down from the premiership to League One.


The club play their home games at The Stadium of Light and possess superb training facilities and excellent youth facilities. The club also has adequate junior coaching and an above average youth recruitment network. The club is affectionately known as The Black Cats are retains a fierce rivalry with Newcastle United.

Having enjoyed their greatest era during the 1890s and, despite not having won anything for eleven years, The Black Cats have a successful history. Boasting a total of fifteen competition wins.

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Going into this season also saw the sale of the club from long time owner Ellis Short. The club was snapped up by Stewart Donald who for the first time in a long time has made the club debt free which should hopefully help unlock the clubs potential in rising back up through the leagues.


There has already been considerable investment in the club over the summer and you are still given another £4 million to spend on transfers but also operate on a shoe string of a wage budget.


These are the key goals set for this save:

Establish Sunderland as a Premier League team
Qualify for Europe via the league
Become the dominant team in the North East
Win the Premier League
Win the Champions League
Promote players through the youth ranks and get them in the starting XI



​

 

[FM_TNSSO]

I was wondering when someone was going to do a Sunderland save/story! Looking forward to this! Think your first season should be a breeze, but after that you have a challenge on your hands!

 

[leckuno]

Squad Overview

Goalkeepers

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Jon Mclaughlin will be our first team keeper for the next couple of seasons where as Ruiter will be our second choice and at the moment his contract will be allowed to expire at the end of the season.

Full backs

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There is a lot of depth in the full back position. James and Oviedo will fight it out for the left back position where as Matthews and Flanagan will fight it out at RB. Oviedo will be available for sale if we get a good enough offer for him to justify it as it would also free up a good bit of wages. Donald Love will be getting offered out as he is surplus to requirements.

I will be checking the loan market for young players from Premier League clubs as well to bring in for both RB and LB as well to provide competition and fight for a first team spot.

Centre backs

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This is a position where we are a bit short it. Ozturk and Baldwin will be our main two CB's but with Loovens at 34 he is only a short term player so we will again be looking at the transfer and loan markets to get in another CB or two to add a bit more depth to the position.


Central Midfielders

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Some Good players here again with Cattermole , Power and McGeouch all be fighting for the roles in the middle of midfield but we will also be looking to bring in another 1 or two players to help through the long season.

Wingers

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We have some excellent wingers at the club for league one that will help make a massive difference in this league. The most import for the club will be trying to keep Duncan Watmore fit as I'm sure that if we can hold onto him he will even be good enough for a season or two in the Premier League and with Gooch we have a very good back up for him as well.

Down the left Maguire should be more than dominant down there in this league with McGeady playing second fiddle if he stays fit but we will be trying to move him on come January as he's on high wages and at 32 will never be a first team player.

Strikers

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So again we will be looking to the loan and transfer market here as Josh Maja will be our main striker but if he gets injured we will be in trouble. We need more depth here desperately to be able to cope with the League and Cups.



All in all here the squad should be able to cope with winning the league comfortably this season but we have to start building now to be able to cope with the championship never mind the Premiership. Anybody we do bring in will be young players that we will be looking to develop to either sell on for a high fee or for them to stay with the team for years to come.​

 

[leckuno]

Transfers and Preseason

I've taken a massive gamble with 2 permanent transfers and ploughed the full £4 million into them plus extra based over instalments so I really hope the two of them pay off as I fully expect them to be 2 key players to build my team around for the Premier League.

The two players I would like to introduce you all to are Antonio Marin who joins from Dinamo and Sandro Tonali who joins from Brescia.

The deals could end up costing quite a bit but ah well.

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This just shows that even though that we are down in league one we still have considerable pulling power for young up and coming players. The two of them will both walk right into the first team.

I've also dived into the loan market quite a bit as well to help add some depth to the club for the season.

For loans we brought in Jan Bednarek from Southampton, Brendan Galloway and Jonjoe Kenny from Everton, Alexander Sorloth from Crystal Palace and Joe Willock from Arsenal.

For the outgoings we sold Donald Love to Aberdeen for £250k and Glenn Loovens also left the club to Bristol Rovers for free as he was having trouble settling at the club so we were happy to let him leave.



There was also a lot of movement within the staff as well with most of the stuff at the club being told to move on apart from the scouts. The major coup for us was bringing in former Newcastle, Watford, West Ham and Norwich boss Glenn Roeder.



Preseason

We started off a bit slow with losing to the reserves but that was before Glenn came in to steady preseason with a 3-3 draw with CSKA Moscow.


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For a team in League 1 getting results against, CSKA, Nurnberg and Partick were all surprising but I will take it and hopefully its hopefully a sign of things to come this season.


Tactic/Starting XI


We will be looking to play to our strengths and will be playing with a DM to help let the CM's have a bit more freedom in the middle of the park

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At 17 Marin will be slowly brought into the first team to aid his development and get him use to English Football​

 

[coolmcool]

Marin is an amazing signing at this level i have him in my Man Utd save and he looks a good prospect

 

[leckuno]

August

The Season finally gets underway hopefully we can get off to a good start to get our promotion hopes off to the best possible start. We have a busy month with 5 games in the league along with the Carabao Cup.


Sunderland v Charlton

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A great start to the season with our pre-season form continuing. Maja and Baldwin both with debut goals. Beating Charlton here is major as I expect them to be challenging for the automatic promotion places.

Luton v Sunderland

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Maja and Maguire securing the win. Maja already showing how important he is going to be to this team with his 2 goals in 2 games.

Carabao Cup 1st Round

Fleetwood v Sunderland

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First round of the cup with us expected to make it through to the third round. We did a bit of rotation here to mix it up a little and give a couple of players a rest. Tonali scores his first goal of the club along with Sorloth. This game also saw Marin get his first start where he came up with an assist for Sorloth's goal.

Sunderland v Scunthorpe

View attachment 32566This game was a lot tougher than it needed to be but on his second start of the season Marin found the back of the net and secured the 3 points that we were after.

Gillingham v Sunderland

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An excellent win here with Marin getting on the score sheet again. Already showing what he's going to be worth to the team this season.

AFC Wimbledon v Sunderland

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We manage to sneak another win here, Its like the Man utd of old where even if we don't play well we can still sneak a 1-0 win. Willock has been instrumental in the midfield so fat this season.

Carabao Cup 2nd Round

Bournemouth v Sunderland

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We get our first major win over a team in the Premiership. The game was in the back until Sorloth get sent off where they were able to make that extra man count in the 5 minutes of injury time. So glad it just goes straight to penalties now as I really don't think we could of coped with another half hour as the momentum was gone. Onwards and upwards in the cup as we have now met the expectations by the board.

Month Overview

What a month 7 wins out of 7. In the league we are still to concede a goal which just shows how good our defence and keeper are for this league. We also haven't been short on goals either. I knew this league should be pretty straight forward so lets hope it continues and that we are able to hold onto out players.

On the cup front we have already exceeded my expectations with beating a Premier League team. In the 3rd round I will be really hoping to get a win as we have the first Tyne-Wear derby of the save as we have been drawn away to Newcastle. I hope the fans won't be too disappointed if we lose since they are two leagues above us.

We have also had the draw for the Checkatrade Trophy which I will be looking to make the final of. We have even drawn Newcastle U23

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With the transfer window not closing anywhere else until the end of august saw us sell Bryan Oviedo to Al-lttihad for £4 million which is put all back into our transfer budget for January

League Table

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​

 

[leckuno]

September


Another busy month as the games keep coming. I always forget how busy the schedule is down in the lower leagues. Not only do we have the league games this month but also our first match in the checkatrade trophy but more importantly we also have the Carabao Cup match against Newcastle.

Sunderland v Oxford

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The score here flatters the match and we were fortunate to get the penalty to make it 2-0

Checkatrade Trophy 1st Round

Sunderland v Shrewsbury

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A bit of rotation here to rest some tired legs where the own goal was the worst part of the match and made the last 12 minutes really interesting.

Sunderland v Fleetwood

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Josh Maja has let the goals dry up in the league a bit now but luckily the goals are also coming from midfield. Diaz with his second goal in two game. Also great to see Watmore getting in amongst the goals since he's one player I want to keep for as long as possible.

Burton v Sunderland

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This really was a game of two halves. Went in at half time 4-0 up and was wondering how many we would win by after 90 minutes and it was a different team that came out from Burton. It was a nervous second half from one of the main contenders for the League. It was the first league goals we had conceded as well

Sunderland v Rochdale

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We bounce back with an emphatic win against Rochdale with Maguire showing why Marin can't keep him out fo the first team just yet with his hat-trick off the left wing.

Carabao Cup 3rd Round

Newcastle v Sunderland

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Wow, just wow. What a win against our fiercest rivals. I didn't expect this at all. To fall behind 4 times and always pull it back. and what better than local lad Duncan Watmore getting his first hat-trick of the season. I didn't expect this meeting in my first season but it will hopefully set us up for the future matches between to two teams.

Coventry v Sunderland

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An excellent way to finish off the month with another commanding victory. Is anybody going to be able to stop us in the league? or are more people even going to be able to score against us?

Month Overview

Another excellent month in the league. A bit disappointing to concede the 3 goals against Burton but I suppose 4 goals conceded in the league after 10 games isn't too bad.

The win against Newcastle in the Cup was unreal and hopefully its a sign of things to come in the future, lets just hope we can beat their under 23's team in a couple of months time. The win gives us a home draw against Crystal Palace. Can we keep our run going against Premiership teams?

This month has also seen us complete two transfers for January with the money brought in from Oviedo going. We have signed Karlan Grant from Charlton and Jack Whatmough from Portsmouth. They will both be joining us in January.

League Table

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[Brane_Orsou]

As a Newcastle fan I hope you fail miserably, get sacked and Sunderland go bankrupt. As an FM fan, looking forward to seeing how you get on. Think this season will be a breeze and 100+ points. Will get interested after that.

 

[leckuno]

October

Sunderland v Peterborough

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Sorloth comes in for the miss firing Maja and bags a great hat-trick again to secure the 3 point. He will now become the main striker just now going forward

Bradford City v Sunderland

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Sorloth showing that he is the main man in the team with an excellent two goals. A bit disappointed to have conceded a goal against ten men though.

Checkatrade Trophy 1st Round
Grimsby v Sunderland

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A lot of rotation here and a change of tactics to accommodate Honeyman in the starting XI to give him a run out and it paid off with his goal. Plan is just to coast through this competition.


Shrewsbury v Sunderland

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Starting to look like we are a one man team here but who cares. Lets all get aboard the Alexander Sorloth train.

Doncaster v Sunderland


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A much tougher game than it needed to be but again we manage to grind out a 1-0 win even though we weren't at our best.

Sunderland v Southend

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A nice effort from midfield here chipping in with the 3 goals which always helps when the strikers aren't getting on the score sheet

Carabao Cup 4th Round

Crystal Palace v Sunderland

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Our cup run comes to an end but the team can be very proud to have made a game of it and only to have lost 2-1.

Month Overview

Yet another excellent month in the league where we have gone unbeaten and keep marching on, but to be honest I really didn't expect many teams to cause us too many issues this season.

We suffered our first loss of the season but thankfully it wasn't in the league and hopefully the heads don't drop.

We have learnt the draw for the first round of the FA Cup as well where we will meet Havant and Waterlooville at the Stadium of Light so we should progress to the second round.

There has also been another deal struck for January when we will be welcoming another young and exciting player Pelayo Morilla from Sporting Gijon.

League Table

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[leckuno]

November

Plymouth v Sunderland

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Our first dropped points of the season against a team we should of been taking 3 points from. We managed to salvage a point though after falling behind.

Sunderland V Blackpool

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Back to winning ways but again its a much tougher game than expected. The strikers miss the target though so lucky again that the midfielders are pulling the strings and coming up with the goals.

FA Cup 1st Round

Sunderland V Havant and Waterlooville

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A bit of rotation for this game due to the level of the opposition and it works out well, we run out massive winners. We progress to the second round comfortably

Checkatrade Trophy 1st Round

Sunderland V Newcastle Under 23's

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The important thing here is that we got the win but it was a tough match against what is an Under 23 team. Maja got a confidence boosting goal against the local rivals which will always help.

Walsall v Sunderland

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Maja and Marin both getting on the score sheet showing that relying on youth this season is paying off. How many of these boys can make it to the Premier League.

Sunderland V Barnsley

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A good match against 2nd in the league to open up an 18 point gap so safe to say the title is ours and its only November

Month Overview

Well we suffered our first dropped points of the season but thankfully we still hold a massive gap at the top of the table and I fully expected us to drop points over the season so its not worrying me at all.

In the FA Cup we are entertaining Cheltenham at home in the second round. In the Checkatrade Trophy we have got Doncaster at home as well so we should hopefully progress through both of those ties.

We are also able to announce yet another signing for the club and this one is a massive signing for a club in League One. It does go against signing young players as he is 31 and serving a ban until the end of the year. But with 41 caps for France and having played for Arsenal and Man City Samir Nasri will now grace Sunderland with his presence and skill. Nasri signs on £15,000 a week and is already worth 14 million so even f he only stays a season and then we sell him it will be worth it.

League Table

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[Brane_Orsou]

Nasri is a bit of a coup mind! Suppose even if you get him to play out the season and he moves on in the summer the £14m will be a tidy amount to top up the squad for the Championship

 

[DonVilla]

Enjoying this story. Definitely a team I'll have a go with at some point as well.

 

[leckuno]

December

​

FA Cup 2nd Round

Sunderland V CheltenhamView attachment 31932
Again throwing away a lead but managing to get the final goal to march into the 3rd round. It was a lot tougher than it needed to be but luckily our play maker in the middle of the park managed to come up with 2 goals.

Sunderland V Wycombe

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Its a bad say when your defender is scoring the two goals to win you the game but 3 points is 3 points and that's all that matters.

Accrington V Sunderland

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This was a really disappointing way to come up with the first loss of the season. Accrington had just lost their manager so we should of put up a better fight especially since they had 10 men for the last 4 minutes.

Checkatrade Trophy 2nd Round
Sunderland V Doncaster

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We did a lot of rotation for this match to try and give players a rest and we managed to get the win with Sorloth coming back into the team and providing the two goals. Onto the third round we go.

Sunderland V Bristol Rovers

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What ever team we played in the league after our loss they were always in for a tough match and Maja shows how lethal he could be with his hat-trick.

Portsmouth V Sunderland

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Not much to say about this game apart from that this was probably a fair result

Sunderland V Bradford City

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An all round good performance from the team after the Portsmouth result, with the youngsters showing what they can do.

Sunderland V Shrewsbury

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Sorloth showing he can be just as dangerous coming in off the wing here with yet another hat-trick showing that Maja isn't the only one this month to get one

Month Overview

A busy month where our home form has been as good as ever but a bit worrying that in the month we only had 2 away games and we only managed a point. Lets hope this isn't a sign of things to come in the second half of the season.

In the FA Cup we have a home draw to AFC Wimbledon and in the Checkatrade Trophy we have also got a home draw to Mansfield so again we will be looking to progress through to the 4th round of both competitions.

We have also been busy again in the transfer window for January with both incomings and outgoings. Leaving the club are Tom Flanagan for £600k to Hibernian, Aiden McGeady leaves for free to Fleetwood as he never got game time and was on £16k a week, Charlie Wyke moves to Burton for £1.7 million as again he didn't get game time, Robbin Ruiter is also moving to Parma for£500kand finally Luke O'Nien leaves for Rotherham for £215k.

Incoming we have signed Ross McCrorie from Rangers for £1.7 million and Jordan Archer comes in for £155k.

More importantly I have signed a new 2 year contract that will keep me at the club until 2021.

League Table

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[leckuno]

January

Blackpool V Sunderland

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A hard fought victory against a poor team to start the year but at least we walk away with the 3 points. Nasri made his return to English football in this game and got the assist and the Man of the Match award.FA Cup 3rd Round
Sunderland V AFC Wimbledon

http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/atta...59-make-sunderland-great-again-cheltenham.png
View attachment 31749A nice chance for some rotation here and it pays off as we run out well deserved winners and progress into the next round

Charlton V Sunderland

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A bit more rotation here as the games are coming thick and fast but no matter what team I put out I always have full confidence in my team to come back in with the 3 points.

Sunderland V Luton

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A much tougher match than it should of been here but McGeouch comes up with the winning goal with the last kick of the game so safe to say we were pretty fortunate to get the 3 points today.

Checkatrade Trophy 3rd Round
Sunderland V Mansfield

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At the moment we seem to be doing just enough to grind out the results again so we really need to improve our standards.

Scunthorpe V Sunderland

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An excellent start to the game was enough to win it but not sure why the team cooled off after the first 17 minutes.

December


FA Cup 4th Round
Sunderland V Watford

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Tonali always comes up with goals in the big game and Nasri gets his first goal since his return to secure the win. We were fortunate to come up against a Watford team that was Sam Allardyce's first game in charge.

Checkatrade Trophy 4th Round
Grimsby V Sunderland

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A good chance for rotation here again after the Watford game and we run out comfortable winners and progress to the quarter finals.

Month Overview

An excellent month on all fronts with winning all our matches. Progression in the FA cup see's us draw West Brom in the 5th round with the match being played at home. In the Checkatrade trophy we come up against Barnsley at home as well. Both draws are positive as I fancy our chances as long as we are playing at home.

So January also brings the transfer window so of course there has been even more movement. Leaving the club first was Adam Matthews to Brentford for £700k even though he was a first team player his contract was up at the end of the season and he was refusing to sign a new deal. Next to go was Alim Ozturk for £500k and finally Dylan McGeouch left for West Brom for £10.5 million. Quite frankly the deal was too good to turn down and he was a rotation option at best.

Coming in Andre Wisdom comes in for £1.4 million from Derby to replace Mathews. Pape Cheikh comes in from Lyon for £3.3 million. He will be a major player going forward and will hopefully form a key midfield partnership with Tonali.

League Table

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[Brane_Orsou]

Must admit I thought/expected an unbeaten season. That being said you're still 21 points clear with a game in hand

 

[leckuno]

Must admit I thought/expected an unbeaten season. That being said you're still 21 points clear with a game in hand

I was hoping for the unbeaten season as well but Accrington were our undoing. The first season was always going to be a walk in the park though. The fun will start next season

 

[focafoca18]

Very good....the only one match you loose is with the last in table...Tonali and Marin really good, and they also score some important goals!!!

 

[leckuno]

February


Sunderland V A.F.C Wimbledon

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Karlan Grant and Jack Whatmough both with their first goals for the clubs. Hoping Grant can kick on from here as it ended a 13 hour goal drought for him from his Charlton days

Sunderland V Gillingham

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Grant with an early goal to get us off to a great start as after that the rest was just a formality.

Oxford V Sunderland

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Diaz running the show from Centre mid here as he is given a chance from the off and he duly delivers.

Sunderland V Accrington

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We went full rotation for this match to rest players for the FA Cup. Only an own goal securing the 3 points for us today. Accrington very nearly becoming our bogey team

FA Cup 5th Round
Sunderland V West Brom

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Well I didn't expect the match to be that easy Maja comes up with an important hat-trick. We march onto the 6th round.

Bristol Rovers V Sunderland

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Maja with the fast goal in Sunderland history apparently with only 17 seconds on the clock. McCorie and Cheikh both also getting first club goals.

Checkatrade Trophy Semi-Final
Sunderland V Barnsley

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Sorloth with 2 goals off the wing again. We march into the final, Can we get our first piece of silverware in the cupboard soon?

Month Overview
An unbeaten month again see's us stretch our lead to 24 points so the league should hopefully be tied up by the end of March.

In the FA cup we have been given a really tough draw and been drawn away to Arsenal so our cup run will probably be coming to an end. In the checkatrade trophy we have also been drawn against Luton and will be played at Wembley.

I'll be starting to look at the transfer list and expiring contracts to see who can come in and strengthen the team for next season now as well.

League Table

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[FM_TNSSO]

Absolutely smashing League One apart! Interesting to see how you get on in the Championship next season....but you've gotta fancy yourself for another decent season even at the higher level after this year's performance!

 

[leckuno]

Absolutely smashing League One apart! Interesting to see how you get on in the Championship next season....but you've gotta fancy yourself for another decent season even at the higher level after this year's performance!

Yeah with the players I've brought in I really feel I should be able to challenge for the play offs at least. Will see how I go though. Taking ages to get through the season though as only got a couple of hours a day to play. The joy of having kids now.