Saturday 12th July 2025
South Shields v Sunderland
Friendly
1st Cloud Arena
Kick-Off: 16:00
Tickets & Match Coverage
Tickets: Tickets are sold out.
TV/Stream: Streaming will be provided free of charge by the club.
Radio: Not available
With Wembley still feeling like yesterday, we now prepare for the first action in pre-season as the Lads are back.
With World Club Cups and the constant rumour mill of who we will sign, and then the excitement of who we’ve actually signed so far, it doesn’t feel like we’ve stopped on the rollercoaster that is supporting Sunderland AFC.
It’s the first time in 18 years since we have looked forward to a season in the Premier League following promotion, and nine years since we looked forward to a season in the top flight full stop - well, looking forward to it probably wasn’t the right way of looking at it before that season under David Moyes.
But, here we are, back in the big time, and we begin pre-season today as we have for the last couple of years, with a supposed double header that was beginning to become a fixture on people’s summer where they made sure they had a pass out for the day.
Sheffield United v Sunderland - Sky Bet Championship Play-Off Final Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images
Back-to-back friendlies against local opposition where you could travel in between and have a few drinks on the way was just the ticket, but at the late in the day this week, this all changed because of the state of the Gateshead pitch.
The result is that Sunderland’s development squad now take on Gateshead at Hebburn Sports & Social Ground at 12.30pm and the first team focus on taking on South Shields at the 1st Cloud Arena at 4pm.
This could potentially mean that players receive less playing time if there is a larger pool of players competing for a spot on the pitch in a single game, rather than two, as we have seen in previous years.
As in previous years, we’re all eager to see the new signings, with memories going back to two years ago when Hemir equalised for the Lads and we decided he was the one to bag us 25 goals the following season - a good lesson for not making any judgments either way on players during pre-season.
Played for all three...
Ben Clark
Clark came through the ranks at Sunderland to make his debut in a second round 2nd leg League Cup tie at Kenilworth Road. On the night it was a starting XI place alongside Paul Butler in the heart of the defence, where Butler ended up on the scoresheet in a 2-1 win to take the tie 5-1 on aggregate.
After struggling to nail down a regular place in the matchday squad, Clark began the 2004-05 season in the starting line-up on the opening day of the season at Peter Reid’s Coventry City. The game ended in a 2-0 defeat and would be the last league start for Clark before moving to Hartlepool United which would last six years before joining Gateshead in 2010.
Another six years with the Heed included Clark becoming co-caretaker manager alongside Micky Cummins in 2015 and in 2016-17 he played for both Gateshead and South Shields.
Soccer - Coca-Cola Football League Championship - Coventry City v Sunderland Sunderland’s Ben Clark and Coventry City’s Patrick Suffo
Photo by Mike Egerton/EMPICS via Getty Images