Perhaps it was all the whingeing on social media about Jack Ross and the shortcomings of Sunderland’s transfer dealings. Perhaps it was a return, despite all we had to spend to put things right, of the occasional redirection from our pages to a rogue Turkish escort site (if anyone knows of a legal way of counter-attacking such cyber louts, please tell us).
One way or the other, we neglected to offer our customary greetings to the final signing of the transfer window: the Belgian left back Laurens De Bock on a season-long loan from Leeds United.
At safc.com, De Bock said: “I am very happy to be here because I have heard a lot of good things about the club. I’ve spoken to other Belgians who have played here, and they’ve all spoken very highly about the place.
“I know the team wants to go up this season and hopefully my experience will help us achieve that. The manager has been really positive in the conversations I’ve had with him and that’s given me a great feeling because I know they believe in me.”
And Ross added: “Getting some competition into our left side has been a priority for a while now. We have had to work hard to get Laurens in because he’s a player that’s got a really good pedigree in terms of Champions League and Europa League experience.”
De Bock is our seventh addition of the summer. He has been at Leeds since in January 2018 but played only seven times despite a wealth of experience, with more than 100 appearances including some in the Champions League and Europa League, in five years at Club Brugge.
Welcome, Laurens, from Salut! Sunderland and good luck for your stay with us.
And while we’re on, All the Best to the two Jacks – Baldwin and Diamond on their loan spells at Salford and Harrogate Town respectively. After a promising start Baldwin has dropped down the pecking order at Sunderland and it is better that he is at a club where he will get regular game time. For Diamond he will hopefully be gaining experience of competitive football more regularly than he would in the Under 23s.
Unless there are any free agents out there that the club is looking at that looks like it until January. Now let’s get back to the more important business of picking up points.
I saw the video clip after the game and was appalled. If a Sunderland player did it, I’d be as appalled. Toney is a disgrace to the game and should apologise and serve a three-match ban. His side was 3-0 up for heaven’s sake.
I’m also wondering how the players’ Union reacts when one of their members looks to get a fellow professional sent off with the prospect of a three match suspension to follow.
O’Nien’s red card has been overturned.
Two (and a bit) questions for the EFL.
1. Is Toney going to suffer any punishment for his play acting? There is a precedent – Patrick Banford of Leeds received a two game ban after a similar incident against Villa.
2. This is the 2nd time referee Craig Hicks has had his decision to give a Sunderland player a straight red card overturned, having sent Max Power off at Walsall last season. Will someone speak to him and advise him that in future he should consider his decisions more carefully before sending a player off (especially a Sunderland player)?
And a supplementary – will his performance be taken into account for future games involving SAFC?
The whinging on social media is made worse by the number of websites which seem to think that repeating negative tweets and Facebook posts with attention grabbing headlines is somehow newsworthy.
I tend to avoid these as every time I look at them they are simply whinges and offer no credible alternative strategies.
Add to that the inconsistencies and I’m surprised my laptop screen is still in one piece! The latest one I looked at, firstly had a go at the club for not bringing in more players then in the next breath criticised the club for not giving the younger players more game time.