Silly season underway?

Signing speculations before season ends

Right so we already know that Roy Keane is planning a clearout of the deadwood at the Stadium of Light this summer, players who have a contract that ends this season will not be offered a new one, and that includes people like Andrew Cole (wanted at Burnley), Dwight Yorke (wants to stay as a coach), Stanislav Varga, Stephen Wright and Ian Harte. Peter Hartley, Gavin Donoghue, Billy Dennehy and Jake Richardson - all first-year professionals at Sunderland - are also due to leave the club in June.

There are also question marks over the futures of Graham Kavanagh, Greg Halford and Russell Anderson (wanted by Plymouth Argyle), and I’m sure that Keane will also be prepared to listen to offers on Michael Chopra, Darryl Murphy, Ross Wallace, Anthony Stokes, Danny Higginbotham, and Dickson Etuhu.

However, the silly season seems to be underway before we have got the final game kicked off! It starts with goalkeeper Craig Gordon suggesting that Sunderland might beat Arsenal on Sunday so perhaps I’ll be looking for flying pigs on Sunday afternoon. Unless Nyron Nosworthy has a sudden return to top form alongside Johnny Evans then the chances are that Arsenal, despite having nothing to play for, will entertain the Miliband family crowds and run out eventual winners. If Craig is fortunate to be right I’ll be overjoyed, and show my arse in Binns window!

The rumour mill is already turning with stories linking the Black Cats with another bid for Uruguayan Diego Forlan currently with Atletico Madrid where he has scored 19 goals in 43 appearances this season. The next striker to arouse the interest of the press is West Ham’s 25 year old Carlton Cole, although somehow I don’t think that £2m would be enough to tempt the Irons to part with the England under 21 player. With only six goals from 25 appearances this season I don’t think he’ll really add much value to a Sunderland squad looking for some real quality.

While I’m here I’ve just been informed of the emergence of a new website which carries thousands of football fan’s favourite chants, Fanschants.com has put together a huge collection of recordings from clubs and terraces around the leagues in the UK and has made them available to either listen to or download as .mp3s and ringtones. These are ideal for those people who like and are able to use this facility as a ringtone for their mobile phone. You can listen to or download Sunderland songs and chants, including some of the older ones from Roker Park here.

Perhaps Iain Dale would like to be “Forever blowing bubbles” out of his tinkly phone, or Bob Piper might like to recall “When I was just a little boy”, and Dizzy’s phone could blurt out the “Banks of the Royal Blue Mersey”.

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