The Top Flight
Fansided

Sunderland Players To Refund Supporters Who Traveled To Southampton

By Robert Molnar

facebooktwitterreddit

Sunderland supporters who made the 660-mile round-trip journey to — and from — St. Mary’s Stadium in Southampton can have the price of their ticket refunded by the club. After Saturday’s match, Goalkeeper Vito Mannone suggested that the club’s players should refund all the supporters who traveled south in support of the team. Mannone expressed his sorrow to the supporters during his post game interview.

"“It was a difficult afternoon but we need to react. We have to do it for ourselves, for the club and for our great fans as well that came all that way. I will personally talk to the team to see if it is possible to pay their tickets and their trip. It is difficult for us but it’s very difficult for them as well. I will do everything possible. We should do it because we didn’t work hard.”"

The goalkeeper placed blame on the whole team —  himself included — for the poor effort that the side made during the match.

More from The Top Flight

"” I take all the responsibility I can take for each goal,” said Mannone. “I will try to work on it and try to improve. Each one of us should do the same. To try to defend and be in a game properly as a unit. Each one of us knows there were mistakes on the field. We started the game well but after we conceded we threw in the towel – and I include myself.”"

The rest of the squad must have felt the same. Today he club announced that the traveling fans would be refunded from the player’s own pockets. Covering the cost of the tickets that fans purchased amounts to a total near £60,000. With a deadline for claiming the refund of Wednesday Nov. 5th, any amount not claimed after that date will be donated to a Sunderland based Children’s Charity.

Sunderland captain John O’Shea was also part of the announcement.

"“We win and lose as a team, players, staff and fans, however we wanted to acknowledge and thank the supporters who traveled such a long way to give us their backing and despite everything, stayed with us until the final whistle.”"

Live Feed

The Daily Heron: Comparing Beckham’s and Messi’s impacts on MLS, Puerto Rico calls up Inter Miami trio
The Daily Heron: Comparing Beckham’s and Messi’s impacts on MLS, Puerto Rico calls up Inter Miami trio /

Inter Heron

  • USMNT transfers: Gooch joins Stoke, no move for Cannon, Booth joins VolendamFanSided
  • Chelsea striker moves to Sunderland on a season-long loanPlaying for 90
  • Edouard Michut: "It was my decision to leave Sunderland"PSG Post
  • Edouard Michut will return to PSG from SunderlandPSG Post
  • Stoke City Set To Train in Dubai During World CupAll Stoked Up

    • After such a dismal performance from the club, what the players have decided to do seems fitting. It is not known whether the decision to refund fans through their own salaries was made by the players themselves, or the club’s hierarchy. The decision should be welcomed by the club’s supporters. In a way, this is the club admitting how bad they played; saying sorry and thinking that they can just move on is not what should happen.

    The club now needs to prove to its supporters that the way the team played and held themselves against Southampton will never happen again. With the club’s match this weekend coming against a struggling Arsenal, Sunderland can prove to their supporters — and the world at large –that they are still a competitive soccer club. The team needs a result this weekend, not just to help them in the table, but to restore the supporter’s faith in the club as a whole.

    Sources: bbc.com & theguardian.com

    Home/Premier League