Sunderland staged an open training session at the Stadium of Light this afternoon, with fans turning out in numbers to see Tony Mowbray's men put through their paces. Around 5,500 fans were at the stadium to watch training as the Black Cats continued their preparations for Saturday's Championship game against Luton Town at Kenilworth Road.
The players took to the pitch at 2pm for a 90-minute session, before the squad split with some signing autographs and posing for selfies with young supporters pitchside while others went to the club shop for a signing session with fans. After that, it was back to work for the players as they completed a gym session.
Here our Sunderland AFC writer James Hunter picks out some of the highlights of the open training session.
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Ellis Simms is back!
This was the biggest news, and the most welcome sight for Sunderland fans. Mowbray had said last week that the on-loan Everton striker was due to resume full-contact training on Monday, and here the supporters could see him out on the grass taking part in the session.
Simms has been out of commission since suffering a toe injury in Sunderland's 3-0 win at Reading in mid-September and, with Ross Stewart also sidelined through injury, that has meant the Black Cats have had to make do and mend over the last seven games. Assuming Simms comes through a full week's training unscathed, he could be in the squad that travels to Luton - although whether he is ready to go straight into the starting line-up is another matter.
Nevertheless, just seeing him back in action was a positive sign.
But no Lynden Gooch
While Simms' return to training was a boost, there was no sign of Gooch which was a surprise.
Mowbray said last week that Gooch was due to train on Friday and had a chance of making last weekend's game against Burnley, but when the teamsheet came through there was no sign of the right-back.
The fact that he was at the stadium but was not involved in training today suggests that his injury is still troubling him and it looks doubtful that he will be available at Luton.
Nor Patrick Roberts
Roberts was also at the stadium but not involved in the session.
The former Manchester City forward missed the Burnley game with a knock he picked up in training last week and, while Mowbray said he did not think it was a serious issue, clearly Roberts has not yet been able to join in.
Youngsters shine
Mowbray is still trying to integrate Sunderland's late-summer influx into his squad, and they looked sharp in today's session. French teenagers Edouard Michut and Abdoullah Ba in particular showed some neat touches in the half-pitch game that Sunderland played towards the end of training.
Ba showed off some silky touches in the middle of the pitch, while Michut showed that he can finish with a couple of excellent strikes.
Mowbray delegates
It was interesting to see Mowbray and his assistant Mark Venus largely take on a watching brief, allowing first-team coaches Mike Dodds and Michael Proctor to take the lead. Different head coaches take different approaches with some more hands-on than others, but clearly Mowbray prefers to stand back and take an overview of the session - or at least, he did today.
Lights, camera, action!
After three seasons of the Netflix series Sunderland 'Til I Die, the Black Cats are used to TV cameras following them around. And this season cameras from French channel Telefoot are tracking them, with summer loan signing from Paris St Germain Michut one of three young French players they are following throughout the season.
The French journalists were at the open training session to film Michut in action, interacting with fans, and also to speak to him about his early experiences at Sunderland.
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