Meet The Branches: “Och Aye!” - It’s the newly formed Scottish Sunderland Supporters Branch!

RR: You’re a fairly new branch - how did the branch form and come to life?

RS: Basically it was through Facebook - a group I’m in was talking about how there should be a Scottish branch. So I decided to try and give it a go, I spoke with one of the people who help with the SAFC branch council, and from there I spoke with a few other people and decided we should give it a go.

RR: What are your hopes for your branch in the future?

RS: The plans for the future are to have it all sorted by the new season, it’s a process.

The people I’m currently with are ones that came forward and asked if we needed help. We haven’t had the chance to get to a game yet.

I’m currently talking to someone at Sunderland who’s going to help with some things, but there is a plan to go down before the end of the season - some of the people are season ticket holders and its something that we wanna do before next season.

Currently right now we have ‘members’ in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirling, and I’m running the Glasgow based part of the branch. A fella called Ian has taken the Edinburgh and Stirling side, so what we are hoping is to try and get as many people involved - baring in mind I’ve came across fans from Lerwick which is a boat ride and a massive car journey away, so that’s how far our fans are spread out.

But the main objective is for us to try and bring all Scottish fans together.

Sunderland AFC

RR: How many members do you have?

RS: Right now we’re sorting all this out - we know there’s a lot of Scottish Sunderland fans, so the with in the first night of us sorting it all out through Facebook we had about 40 people interested.

RR: How regularly do you get to games?

RS: I get down when I can - it hasn’t been as much as I’d have liked, but hopefully that will change soon with the advent of our new branch.

RR: It’s never been more exciting to be a Sunderland supporter. With the club becoming far more inclusive, how important is it to you to feel a part of what is going on?

RS: Throughout the years there’s been a lot of Scottish interest in our club, with the players, managers and now with Jack Ross coming in.

Sunderland’s history is littered with prominent Scottish figures, and it’s important that the club and Jack knows that it we exist, and be part of something special that’s happening.

RR: How can fans in your area get involved with your branch?

RS: Well they can twitter me on @ScottishSAFC, or they can find us on Facebook - Scottish Sunderland Supporters Branch. We also have an email: ScottishSafcBranch@outlook.com.