​ISTANBUL, TURKEY – MAY 20: Jadon Sancho of Aston Villa celebrates with the trophy after his side’s victory in the UEFA Europa League Final 2026 match between SC Freiburg and Aston Villa FC at Besiktas Park on May 20, 2026 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Harry Murphy – AVFC/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images) | Aston Villa FC via Getty Images Dear Roker Report,I am now living in Florida and have lived in Canada and the USA for 52 years. But I was born and bred in the Liverpool area and still support Everton. Growing up, I became a fan of Sunderland because one of my uncles was a friend of Ivor Broadis, who played for Sunderland and Carlisle, among others. Consequently, he took me to games in Bolton, Manchester and other nearby teams to watch Sunderland. Only one omission – I never went to Liverpool’s ground and never will.I went to the Cup Final against Leeds, a memorable day out. Left Liverpool on a coach early on match day. Watched some great players, Len Shackleton being the best, and met Ray Daniels in a South Wales pub. Once met Wilf Mannion, the Middlesbrough great, who told me to watch Raich Carter. Later we had Stan Anderson, Charlie Hurley, Kevin Phillips, Niall Quinn and the greatest goalie, Jimmy Montgomery.Today’s team has done well, but it’s sad to see so few home-grown players. My daughter made me a Sunderland shirt and I still proudly wear it.Neil RotheryEd’s note [Martin]: Great memories Neil – it is a bit sad to see homegrown players like Neil, Patterson etc leave but there’s a good crop of youngsters coming through, who I think we’ll see play more this season. Keep flying the flag stateside! Dear Roker Report,I love listening to the daily podcast on the cycle in to work and have been really piqued by the commentary on the last few episodes around the SAFC membership programme. As was mentioned the other day, we are getting very little out of such membership, and the comparison against Man City’s membership scheme showed how far behind we are with other clubs.I realise that we are new to this Premier League malarkey and the club needs to make revenue to compete at this highest level, BUT Tom Burwell needs to explain the sheer ineptitude of not managing to secure a front-of-shirt sponsor for 2026/2027.There are rumours of Visit Ghana being lined up as a sponsor for the away and third shirt, but this doesn’t equate to a premium partner. We have had two years to find a sponsor that would value Sunderland as a brand; however, this has been (in my view) a failure by the commercial team.Now the club have rushed this membership scheme in part (it feels like) to mitigate the commercial loss in shirt sponsorship.Is this a commercial misstep by the club? (Although, as a fan, I’m quite happy with the home kit not having a front-of-shirt sponsor!).Would love to hear your thoughts on this.Graeme (Season Ticket holder and proud Irish Branch Member)Ed’s note [Martin]: Thanks for the email and the kind comments on the podcast,