Sunderland's late change of hotel, the board don their…

Sunderland's late change of hotel, the board don their boots, and honouring 'The Goalie'

There was a late change to Sunderland's plans for their week-long training camp in Portugal. Alex Neil's side were originally due to stay in a hotel slap bang in the middle of Albufeira, midway between the two centres of night-time activity known as The Strip and the Old Town.

But in the end - before flying out - they switched to a different five-star hotel in a more discreet setting on the western edge of the Old Town, a 10-15 minute drive from the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira. When they are not training, there are four outdoor pools, three restaurants, three bars (not that they will be using those!), and a swanky spa to enjoy.

There is also a magnificent golf course next to the hotel and, while there were no golf bags amongst their luggage, if Neil gives his players an afternoon off at some point you can expect to see a queue to form to hire a set of clubs.

Rangers take Sunderland's old training base

On Sunderland's last visit to the Algarve in 2019, under Jack Ross, the team stayed at the Quinta do Lago Resort around 20 miles outside Albufeira, and trained at the resort's dedicated high-performance sports hub. This time, however, it's tonight's opponents Glasgow Rangers who have bagged that facility while Sunderland are training at the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira - the venue for both their friendlies.

That would have been a problem in 2019 when the pitch was brown and dusty but, as reported in yesterday's diary, the playing surface is now immaculate.

Sunderland's board pull on their boots

Everyone gets involved in pre-season. Sunderland trained yesterday morning but, given it was the eve of the Rangers game, there was no repeat of Thursday's morning and evening double session.

Instead there was a staff game at the Estadio Municipal de Albufeira, featuring members of Neil's coaching team while majority shareholder Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and fellow board member Juan Sartori were among the non-playing staff who took part.

Big crowd expected against Rangers - by host's standards

A crowd of around 2,500 is expected for Sunderland's game against Rangers - a far cry from the kind of attendances that the ground's regular tenants Imortal DC attract. Imortal compete in the fourth tier of the Portuguese league and, according to one member of their staff, their gates are generally around the 100-mark for league games - although they did draw 350 for a cup game last season.

Honouring 'The Goalie'

There will be a minute's silence ahead of tonight's game as a mark of respect for Rangers' legendary Scotland international goalkeeper Andy Goram, who died last weekend aged 58 following a short battle with cancer. The man known north of the Border simply as 'The Goalie' made 260 appearances for Rangers between 1991 and 1998, winning five league titles, three Scottish Cups, and three League Cups.

Goram, who started his career at Oldham Athletic, also played for Hibernian, Notts County, Sheffield United, Motherwell, Manchester United, Hamilton Academical, Coventry City, Queen of the South, and Elgin City.

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