Dion Sanderson: Sunderland fans have always been class

Birmingham defender Dion Sanderson has been speaking positively about his time at Sunderland.
Dion Sanderson: Sunderland fans have always been class
Dion Sanderson: Sunderland fans have always been class /

Dion Sanderson has described Sunderland supporters as ‘class’ after his ultimately unsuccessful return to the Stadium of Light.

Sanderson captained Birmingham this weekend as they lost 3-1 to Sunderland, for whom he played 27 times on loan in the 2020/21 season.

To make it an even more unhappy return, he scored an own-goal in the second half to edge Sunderland back into the lead after Koji Miyoshi had cancelled out Job Bellingham’s early opener.

Despite all that, Sanderson remembers his time fondly at Sunderland, and especially the supporters.

"I have good memories here, apart from when I got injured, but it was good to see some familiar faces,” Sanderson said.

“Sunderland fans have always been class and there are a lot of them so I've got nothing but good memories here."

On his own-goal, he added: "It rebounded off me and went in, it happens, it's football

"We are then 2-1 down and are trying to chase the game and they score again. It was just a lack of concentration."



Birmingham had a solid defensive record under former boss John Eustace this season, but they have struggled to keep clean sheets since switching to the aggressive high-press favoured by new coach Wayne Rooney.

He says there are obvious teething troubles there, but ultimately it’s the players’ responsibility.

“It’s a different understanding and a different style of play,” Sanderson explained. “As a team we have to understand our roles better, but that will come. I have no doubt about it.

“It’s about us picking moments when we can press. We aren’t going to press for the whole game, it’s impossible. It’s about the responsibility and the ownership that we take on the pitch about the areas we can press.

“At times we might sit in and defend, and be hard to beat, but that’s down to us. We’re the ones playing.”


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Michael Graham
MICHAEL GRAHAM

Michael Graham is a professional sports writer with more than ten years of industry experience. After pursuing football writing by helping establish the Roker Report Sunderland AFC fansite, Michael moved to Planet Sport to cover football.  Michael has since worked on many of the sports sites within the Planet Sport network, including Football365, TEAMtalk and Planet Football before leaving to join 90min. As well as football, Michael is an accomplished tennis writer and has been regularly featured on Tennishead, TennisBuzz and Tennis365. It is football that is his first love, though, with Sunderland AFC his particular passion.  Contact: michael@buzzpublishing.co.uk