00:00It is an exciting time on Wearside with Sunderland back in the Premier League.
00:05To look ahead to the summer and to the new season,
00:07I've spoken to James Copley and Phil Smith of the Sunderland Echo.
00:13Yeah, I think it's really important you have a group of players that understand the club.
00:18I think there's six of those players that have been with Sunderland from League One
00:22to the Premier League in terms of being double promotion.
00:25A couple of those are homegrown as well.
00:27So I think it's really become a key foundation and ethos of the club really
00:33to have players that represent them for a long time that come up through the academy
00:36or that are both young and then come up through the Sunderland system.
00:40It'll help the briefs. Obviously, you'll have dressing room leaders.
00:43As you mentioned, Sunderland will need to strengthen
00:45because the Premier League's a different beast in comparison to the Championship.
00:50But I think you don't want to rip it up too much, do you?
00:55We've seen it time and time again that teams get promoted from the Championship
00:58and they rip the whole thing up and it can cause a lot of problems
01:02in terms of tactical familiarity, all of that sort of stuff.
01:06So I do think there are benefits in keeping a lot of the players
01:11that win your promotion at the club.
01:13I think what Sunderland have going for them as well
01:15is that a lot of those players in that core group that you mentioned
01:19are actually fairly still quite young.
01:21I mean, Luke O'9 is the oldest by a distance at 30 years old.
01:24The rest of them really have got room to grow.
01:26You know, Anthony Patterson, I think, is 24.
01:28Dan Neill, 23.
01:29Dennis Sirkin, 21, 22.
01:31You know, Chris Riggs floating around there, 17 years old.
01:34So you would hope, I mean, Trey Hulme, I think, is 22 or 23.
01:38You would hope a lot of these players that stay at the club,
01:41you know, have the potential to grow in the Premier League and adapt as well.
01:44So I think on that front, I think there's a lot to be excited about, actually.
01:49With Sunderland's Premier League fixtures released,
01:51Phil Smith was confident at the start they had been given.
01:54It's all relative, isn't it?
01:55Really weird sort of seeing the fixtures come out in very mixed emotions
01:59because I think, as you say, there's absolutely no other way to spin it.
02:02It's a generous start for Sunderland.
02:04You know, it's a good while before they play any of the biggest clubs in the league.
02:09And so from that respect, there's a bit of opportunity there.
02:12But it's also a little bit sobering as well when we're talking about teams,
02:15you know, West Ham and, I mean, Brentford are probably the classic example of.
02:19There's certainly opportunities and there are more generous fixtures.
02:22And yet, you look at especially what Brentford have achieved in recent years
02:25and it kind of goes to show as well the skill or the challenge
02:29Sunderland have got to establish themselves in this division.
02:31On transfers, James Copley was predicting a very busy summer on Wearside.
02:38So I think this summer has the potential to be absolute chaos.
02:40I've written about this on the Sunderland Ego website.
02:42But after Tommy Watson and Joe Bellingham, to my eye,
02:45I think there's 18 fringe Sunderland players that could leave,
02:49whether permanently or on loan.
02:51So permanently, you're looking at the likes of Abdel Abad, Naz Roussin,
02:55other players as well on loan like Zach Johnson, Matty Young.
02:59So there's a lot of business to be done.
03:00I think it's going to be very busy.
03:01There's going to be a lot of announcements.
03:03There's contract decisions to be sorted as well.
03:06Obviously, Dan Neal and Dennis Serkin are heading into their last years.
03:10Christian Speakman said he's going to be sorting those out soon.
03:12So you'd like to see those get done nice and early.
03:15I would love both players to stay at the club.
03:17Obviously, Dennis Serkin joining the club in League One.
03:19Dan Neal coming up through the academy.
03:22First North East homegrown player to lift a trophy at Wembley for Sunderland since 1937.
03:28So you hope those two bits of business get done.
03:31You hope all of the outgoing bits of business gets done so Sunderland can then manoeuvre in the transfer window.
03:36And then I think, obviously, you know, Eliza Mayenda and Wilson Isidore are really good up front for Sunderland in the championship.
03:43You'd back them to adapt it at the Premier League.
03:45Overall, though, the mood is an excitable one at Sunderland, given that they are back in the top flight.
03:51You have to play everyone twice, sort of comes around every year.
03:54And I always think with that, well, that is true.
03:57But you're also assuming that football is a rational sport where everyone, if you have a terrible start, everyone just goes, oh, well, it's OK.
04:03We've had a tough fixture list rather than, you know, people calling for change.
04:06And so I do think the fixtures can be really important because I think, you know, I think it can set the tone for the early weeks of the season.
04:12And sometimes big decisions get made on how you start the season.
04:15So I think it's definitely a positive from a Sunderland perspective that there are fixtures that they can have a go at and hopefully get some early points on the board.
04:23Although, you know, certainly opponents that have to be respectful because of how long we've been at Premier League level.
04:28But, yeah, definitely a positive start.
04:31I suppose the flip side of that is if you don't hit the ground running, the pressure is going to ratchet up really quickly with the games that you've got.
04:37So I guess you can see it either way.
04:38But I suspect Sunderland will be enthusiastic and quite excited having seen the fixtures this morning.
