SUNDERLAND UNBELIEVABLE 21 !? : In the

SUNDERLAND UNBELIEVABLE 21 !? :

In the 51 years I have followed CCFC , I have never seen anything like it . In fact I never heard that it was done in professional football . I bet that none of you have either .


The average age of the Sunderland starting eleven team that could start against us this Friday could have an average age of just over 21 years .


This could be a record at this level but maybe not …..but anyway highly unusual . However the unbelievable thing is that in their last game following are the starting ages : 1 (24) year old - 2 (23) year old - 2 22) year old - 1 (21) year old - 4 (20) year old - 1 (18) year old.


This was their whole starting 11 !!?? Wow They drew that game …..having lost the previous four ……so I wonder if because of this improved performance they will make msny changes ? I expect they must , but still , we will be playing a very very young team .


Their manager Mike Dodds , is really only an “interim head coach” , he never played professional football , never was a full time manager and is 37 years old .


We have a very experienced team and had been in a four game winning roll prior to our Swansea defeat …..so we have recently been flying …while they have been sinking like a stone .


I am not an arrogant man nor dismissive of any team …… but really ……what can I say ……..I can’t say it ….but what the hell ….. we should be able to beat a team of kids ….none of whom is if any top notch proven pedigree.

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They’ve gone out of their way to create a young team.

To the point they’ve actively looked to move on players over 25.

I won’t say you can’t win anything with kids as that didn’t work out when someone else said it.

But it’s very high risk. I get they want a young team as the chances are they can then make a profit when they sell them on.

But you also need a mix of youth and experience. Without that experience, they’ll struggle to get out of this league. Mowbray did an unbelievable job to get them in the play-offs last season and they sacked him.



We should really be beating them on Friday.

Their one top quality player is Jack Clarke who is injured.

They have a few players aged 20 - 21 along with Bellingham and Mayenda who are 18 years old .
The keeper Patterson 23 - Defender O'Neil is 29 - Roberts 27 and Bradley Dack 30 years old .

Sunderland Average age 21:



One reason for this very strange situation is that perhaps Sunderland are wanting to keep their players’ wages low to stay within the FFP rules …..while at the same time building for the future by developing young talent .


They figure that they are safe in the league and no chance of relegation …..so developing the youth for the future while curtailing the expenses can make a lot of sense.





This brings me to our own situation . Quite a few supporters are calling upon the Bulut and the Club ……to play as many of our youngsters as possible . Frankly that makes a lot of sense .


Who are the candidates for us ?


Both Colwill brothers and Cian Ashford without a doubt.

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Be a tough old game for us and I am going for a 1-1

Agree with Annis.

Thing is, Bulut is risk averse and I don't know how much he takes account of the opposition personnel.

I bet Bulut will stick with the same old line up but I want him to shake it up. Some of those players owe the fans big time after laying down once again against the Vermin!

If it was me, I'd start our younger home grown lads and ditch the Cheltenham drinkers.

Sunderland Average age 21:



One reason for this very strange situation is that perhaps Sunderland are wanting to keep their players’ wages low to stay within the FFP rules …..while at the same time building for the future by developing young talent .


They figure that they are safe in the league and no chance of relegation …..so developing the youth for the future while curtailing the expenses can make a lot of sense.





This brings me to our own situation . Quite a few supporters are calling upon the Bulut and the Club ……to play as many of our youngsters as possible . Frankly that makes a lot of sense .


Who are the candidates for us ?


Both Colwill brothers and Cian Ashford without a doubt.

I wonder how our under 21s would cope?

Sunderland Average age 21:



One reason for this very strange situation is that perhaps Sunderland are wanting to keep their players’ wages low to stay within the FFP rules …..while at the same time building for the future by developing young talent .


They figure that they are safe in the league and no chance of relegation …..so developing the youth for the future while curtailing the expenses can make a lot of sense.





This brings me to our own situation . Quite a few supporters are calling upon the Bulut and the Club ……to play

as many of our youngsters as possible . Frankly that makes a lot of sense .


Who are the candidates for us ?


Both Colwill brothers and Cian Ashford without a doubt.

I wonder how our under 21s would cope?

Would be interesting lol


I would like to see both Colwil brothers and Ashford play tomorrow

Sunderland manager Mike Dodds has named one youngster who could be promoted to the first team this season.

Mike Dodds has so far been particularly stubborn with his team selections, rarely steering away from the senior team that has struggled for most of the campaign.

Fans called for Chris Rigg’s first start for months before he was eventually handed the opportunity against Leicester City, where he was ‘remarkable’.

The 16-year-old is the only academy player who has really been given a chance this season, despite a terrible run of form.

Sunderland now have nothing to play for though, as they sit 13 points below the play-off positions with only eight games to go.

With Dodds able to get a good look at his team over the international break and size up who is going to be able to make their mark on the final stretch, we could now see the coach play around with his team and give some youngsters some vital experience ahead of next season.

I know you can't compare them and the gulf in class is massive but what if that team of kids was Bellingham, Saka, Haaland, Lemina etc?

I hope we don't get complacent and we play the way we should regardless of them having a very young team

Sunderland have one player only 16 yrs old Chris Rigg starting