During our time in League One, there was seemingly a new low for Sunderland every other week, defeats to Leicester Under 21’s, Gillingham, Fleetwood, Southend and Cheltenham are all obvious shouts for the worst loss in our history.
Of course, these reversals were humiliating, pathetic and unacceptable but in my eyes perhaps the most disillusioned I’ve felt watching The Lads was a 5-1 Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat to Arsenal. I realise this seems utterly absurd at first glance, but I found every element of this cup tie to be completely demoralising.
I just couldn’t get gooey eyed over getting beat 5-1 by a team who we used to play against in regular league fixtures and sometimes even beat. Yes, we played well in large parts, but that was what got me so downbeat about our situation – we lost a game of football 5-1, this should be an abomination, but on the night, we were quite good, we were brave, got at Arsenal the best we could but we were just stratospheres from our hosts.
For teenagers in the away end that night, it would have been the first time they’d visited such an arena, now as young adults they have witnessed their team win at Stamford Bridge, compete with Arsenal as equals and lose just two of their first 11 games thus far. For all of this to happen in under four years feels like a fever dream at times. In this article we will run through our lambs to the North London slaughter and see where their subsequent careers have taken them.
LEE BURGE
Lee Burge, or Leeeeeeee Burgeeeeeeee as sections of the South Stand referred to him throughout the 2021-22 season was the epitome of our League One stint. While he was prone to an error, he was rarely rank bad, but if we are honest, he was never of the required standard for a promotion winning side. He has been phased out of first team action by the arrival of Ron Thorburn-Hoffman and the mergence of Anthony Patterson, combined with Burge suffering from a heart complaint, meant this was his last appearance for Sunderland. In the summer of 2022, he joined Northampton Town and made 38 appearances as they secured promotion to League One. Burge remains at the club to this day, making 20 appearances last season and eight so far this term.
TOM FLANAGAN
Flanagan arrived at Sunderland on a free transfer following his release from fellow relegation sufferers Burton Albion. In his three and half years at the club, Flanagan made 91 appearances scoring four goals. His time here was mixed, capable of being dominant in both boxes and at times, was surprisingly good with the ball at his feet, he was capable of throwing in plenty of absolute stinkers. Flanagan followed a well-trodden path, when he joined Shrewsbury in January 2022, shortly after the arrival of Danny Batth. The Northern Ireland international was released by Shrewsbury in the summer of 2024 and joined Colchester where he was made club captain.
CALLUM DOYLE
Coined ‘the juggernaut’ by some fans early into his tenure, the 17-year-old arrived on loan from Manchester City with a big reputation. He looked impressive and composed throughout the first half of the 2021-22 season but as seemed to happen under Lee Johnson, Doyle suffered with burnout as the campaign went on and became more prone to error before he lost his regular starting X1 place. He played almost every minute up until our 1-1 draw with Burton Albion, thereafter he played just three more league games for the lads, before making cameos in all of the play off games. Since leaving Sunderland, he had loan spells at Coventry, promotion winning Leicester City and Norwich City before making the permanent switch to Phil Parkinson’s Wrexham in the summer of 2025.
BAILEY WRIGHT
Following a brief but successful loan spell, Bailey Wright joined Sunderland permanently from Bristol City in the summer of 2020, in what will forever be dubbed ‘the lockdown season’. He played 33 league games but sadly missed out on the Papa Johns Trophy final due to injury. In the 2021-22 season, he made 37 appearances and formed a formidable partnership with Danny Batth. The 2022-23 season saw him play 14 times, before ending the season on loan at Rotherham United, where he played on seven occasions. In the close season he left Sunderland to join Lion City Sailors in the Singaporean Premier League, where he has a Singapore Cup and Singapore Community Shield under his belt.
CARL WINCHESTER
What’s that? You’re a solid, but unspectacular centre midfielder and somewhat of a fan favourite? Have you ever considered playing right back? Ahead of his second season on Wearside Winchester joined the likes of Craig Gardner and Dean Whitehead in making the switch from central midfield to full back to good effect. At the start of the campaign, he was dubbed Winiesta following a run of three goals in five games, but unfortunately, he didn’t find the net again in red and white. He won the hearts of Sunderland fans with a series of good performances and his never say day attitude throughout his time at the club. After making 40 appearances in our promotion campaign, he was loaned out to Shrewsbury Town and joined them permanently a year later. In January 2025 he returned to his native Northern Ireland, joining Derry City where he signed a two year deal.
LYNDEN GOOCH
The man with one of the most mental accents I’ve ever heard, Gooch had a rollercoaster of a journey with Sunderland AFC after joining us as a school boy, making his debut in the Premier League, being part of the side that dropped all the way to The Championship, before almost making his way all the way back to the Premier League in 2023. He is very much an adopted Mackem and it would have been somewhat of a Hollywood ending if he had been part of a back-to-back promotion winning side, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. He did, however play a crucial role in our League One play-off winning campaign making 38 appearances. In The Championship he ended the season as a centre back in a three-man defence such was the absurdity of our injury crisis. With a heavy heart, Gooch left Wearside in the summer of 2023 to join Stoke City, spending two seasons in Staffordshire before making the switch to Huddersfield Town.
DAN NEIL
The 2021-22 season was a breakthrough one for the boyhood Sunderland fan, making 39 league appearances across the campaign, but like Callum Doyle he struggled for starts in the second half of the season. Over the following two seasons, he would prove to be a crucial part of the squad before taking over as club captain ahead of the 24/25 season. The Hebburn born midfielder featured 44 times and scored twice as the lads secured promotion back to the Premier League for the first time in eight years.
ELLIOT EMBLETON
Elliot Embleton lived the dream of all Sunderland supporters when he scored the opening goal in our 2-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers at Wembley. Unfortunately, Embleton has arguably had the biggest fall from grace out of everyone featured in this list. Following an impressive 2021-22 campaign, he featured 23 times in our first season back in the Championship and got on the scoresheet against Wigan and Luton. Since then, injuries have blighted his career, in 2023 he joined League One side Derby County on loan where he made just one appearance before injury curtailed his season. He left Wearside permanently in the summer of 2024, joining Blackpool, after 15 appearances in Lancashire he made the switch to Cumbria to join Carlisle, where he suffered relegation to the fourth tier of English football. He has struggled for fitness so far this season and has only turned out twice at the time of writing.
ALEX PRITCHARD
Pritchard arrived from Huddersfield Town, where he had not been popular with their fans to say the least after his big money move ultimately fizzled out. After a slightly stuttering start on Wearside, Pritchard became someone on the pitch who showed leadership qualities and drove standards during our run to the League One Play Off final and made some valuable contributions. He credited his spell at Sunderland for helping him rediscover his love for football and he chipped in with some crucial goal involvements during our run to the Championship playoffs, most notably notching a crucial second goal in our 3-0 final day triumph at Preston North End. He left the club in 2025 under somewhat of a cloud after declaring himself as unavailable for selection before our tie with Stoke City. He joined Birmingham City a few days later and ended the season relegated with the Midlands outfit. He subsequently made the move to Turkey, signing for Sivasspor where he remains to this day.
NATHAN BROADHEAD
After a relatively unsuccessful loan spell at Burton Albion, Broadhead enjoyed a much more productive short-term switch to Wearside. He came up with two crucial late goals in the regular season run in, versus Shrewsbury and Gillingham and on the final day, his goal cemented our place in the play-offs. He ended the season with 10 goals from 20 league appearances, and the following season joined fellow newly promoted side, Wigan Athletic. He suffered relegation during his first Championship campaign but did enough to earn a permanent move to Ipswich with whom he gained promotion to the Premier League with in 2023-24. During the 2024-25 he netted two topflight goals, which earned him a transfer to Wrexham in the summer of 2025.
ROSS STEWART
Early on in his Sunderland tenure, Ross Stewart briefly had more winners’ medals than appearances for his new employers after being an unused substitute against Tranmere Rovers in the Papa Johns Trophy final. He made his debut against Accrington Stanley a few days later and scored a lopping header in a 2-0 win. He impressed in that seasons’ play off semi final second leg, from which point he never looked back. In his first full season he scored 24 goals in 46 games in the regular season before scoring twice in the playoffs including that all important goal at Wembley to end our four years of pain in League One. He took to the Championship like a house on fire scoring 10 goals in 13 matches before his season was cruelly ended by injury in an FA Cup tie at Fulham. He left the club in 2023 for £10m to join Southampton where his injury woes have continued and he has made just 23 league appearances for the Saints.
Subs
Anthony Patterson – Patterson had made a handful of league starts for the lads at the beginning of this season before joining Notts County where he impressed at National League level. In a sliding doors moment, injury and health concerns over our two other goalkeepers led to him being recalled and was an ever present for Sunderland until our promotion and the subsequent arrival of Robbin Roefs.
Dennis Cirkin – Another player we signed in the League One era who remains at the club to this day and played a crucial part in our promotion to the Premier League. Cirkin has struggled for fitness throughout his time at the club but has made a few recent outings for the Under 21’s and will no doubt be called on during the African Cup of Nations.
Denver Hume- It says a lot about our progress in recent years that Denver Hume was one of the brightest prospects at the club. He only ever excelled in a 3-5-2 and often struggled in the air. He left Sunderland in 2022 to join Portsmouth where he struggled for form, making just 20 appearances in two years. He then rediscovered himself at Grimsby and earned a place in the League Two team of the year, he joined Fleetwood Town in the summer of 2025.
Corry Evans – After joining from Blackburn in 2021, Evans struggled with injuries throughout his career and made 60 league appearances for Sunderland during his time here. He was often the sole experienced head in the team and when he was on the treatment table, he was undoubtedly a miss from our starting lineup. After over a year out with injury he played three times towards the end of the 2023-24 season, after his contract at Sunderland expired he spent sometime as a free agent before joining Bradford and ultimately Oldham before retiring. In his last game of his professional career, he achieved promotion back to the football league, not a bad way to bow out.
Aiden O’Brien – Throughout our time in League One we signed several players who had played a higher level, and we hoped this would be reflected by their League One displays, sadly this often wasn’t the case. O’Brien joined the likes of Marc McNulty, Joel Lynch and Josh Scowen in not quite cutting it while at Sunderland. He scored five league goals and found himself in and out of the team due to a lack of form and the success of Charlie Wyke and Ross Stewart. His most memorable game undoubtedly came at Blackpool during this League Cup run, where he netted a hat-trick which included a last-minute winner. He left to join Portsmouth midway through the 2021-22 season and has had a very nomadic career ever since. Since leaving Pompey he has played for Shrewsbury, Gillingham, Sutton United and Shelbourne. He now finds himself playing for National League side, Woking.
Benji Kimpioka – Kimpioka showed a lot of raw potential while at Sunderland. A very direct and pacy forward, he would often cause defenders a lot of problems, but he never showed a huge amount of technique and returned to Sweden to sign for AIK in 2022. After a loan spell at Lurzen, he joined St Johnstone who following their relegation now play in the Scottish Championship.
Arbenit Xhemajli -Although he was signed in the pre-KLD era, Xhemajli was a rare progressive signing for the lads, he was young, had potential and had already turned out for the Kosovo national team before arriving at Sunderland. However, he struggled for fitness while at the club and was ruled out for almost the entirety of the 2020-21 season after suffering an injury on international duty. He made his comeback during the following seasons’ Papa Johns Trophy and even made two league starts, most notably in a 3-0 away win at Wigan. He was released at the end of the season and has since played for Liechtenstein outfit, Vaduz and currently plays in the Albanian Premier League for Egnatia.
Ollie Younger – After joining from Burnley, Younger showed a fair bit of promise while playing for our Under 21’s and our first team in cup fixtures but like Xhemajli, his time at the club was blighted by injury. In 2022, he joined Doncaster Rovers on a one year deal where he made 16 appearances for Donny prior to his release. He has not played professional football since.
Cieran Dunne – Dunne was recruited for our under 21 side in 2019 and played occasional EFL Trophy games for Sunderland during his time here. He was released in the summer of 2022 and signed for Cove Rangers in the Scottish Championship, following his release by Cove he transferred to Peterhead and gained promotion for Scottish League Two in his first season.
