Tuesday 22nd February 2022 isn’t a date that will resonate with most Sunderland fans, but for me I will always reflect on it as the day I nearly lost hope.
Of course, I had experienced many moments of hopelessness following the club over the years but that was the night where I seriously wondered, “what is the point in this?”
On the day in question, we drew 1-1 at home to Burton Albion, because of course we did, we never beat Burton Albion at the Stadium of Light in either The Championship or League One.
Even a Ross Stewart equaliser in the dying embers of added time didn’t lift my spirits, usually when a goal is scored so late in a match, context is forgotten and there are wild celebrations.
On this occasion, I could barely muster a cheer and a round of applause as the ball struck the back of the net.
Everything about it felt like a complete exercise in futility, even as I made my way over the Wearmouth Bridge and walked through the city centre, I was struck by how quiet it was.
When I returned home that night, I did a lot of soul searching, which may sound a bit dramatic but the truth is the hollowness of supporting Sunderland during that period knocked the stuffing out of me.
Yes, we remained in a play off place but we were ten points behind Wigan in second place, having played two games more, we were a frankly hilarious 16 points behind table toppers, Rotherham, who had a game in hand on us and even the two teams directly below us had games in hand and were just a point behind.
Even if we somehow scraped a play off place, could I really be bothered to go through that just to lose yet again?
Sunderland AFC had always had such a huge hold over my life that I had never once considered what it might be like to simply stop going to matches, stop engaging, stop writing about them, or stop waffling about them on a podcast and just give up and do something else.
But that night, I came very close, it felt like one gut punch too many, getting relegated from the Premier League wasn’t too bad, because we’d win a few games in the Championship and stabilise right?
Oh, we appear to have been relegated again, but hey League One will be fun for a season and we’ll get to see grounds we’ve never seen before…four years later we were still playing Accrington Stanley, and promotion felt further away than it had ever been.
It wasn’t just existing in League One, it was the scattergun approach to signings, it was incompetent and disingenuous owners, it was Phil Parkinson telling us that he’d have taken a point away to Gillingham. It was Lee Johnson building our hopes up before randomly losing several games on the bounce.
To summarise, I was sick of repeatedly dragging myself up from the canvas only to be struck down with another body blow seconds later.
I just didn’t know when we were going to finally hit the ultimate low point and start building again, a 6-0 loss to Bolton should’ve been the last straw, a humiliating loss to Cheltenham with a caretaker manager should’ve been the last straw, losing 2-1 at home to Doncaster in front of almost 40,000 fans should have been the last straw but sadly it wasn’t.
New Head Coach Alex Neil had identified the problem, but at that stage didn’t look as though he was anywhere nearer to solving it and had collected just two points from three games.
Less than three and a half years and we have just been promoted to the Premier League after arguably the best few weeks of my Sunderland supporting life.
The journey hasn’t been an entirely linear one and there have been roadblocks along the way, but since that depressing February night, the turnaround at the football club has been quite astonishing.
ALEX NEIL’S MINOR MIRACLE
In early 2022, the new ownership was not winning many popularity contests on Wearside.
If the sacking of Lee Johnson divided opinion, the way the appointment of his successor was handled lost them a lot of goodwill with the fanbase.
I don’t need to remind our learned readers about the public flirtation with Roy Keane and the embarrassing results and performances before Alex Neil came in.
However, they eventually stumbled across the right appointment and we didn’t look back, although he isn’t fondly remembered on Wearside for the way he left, Neil performed a minor miracle during the second half of that campaign.
It is easy to apply back projection to the squad we had at the time and conclude that the likes of Dan Neil, Trai Hume, Jack Clarke, Patrick Roberts, Ross Stewart and Dennis Cirkin should comfortably get promoted from League One.
However, the context was very different three years ago. Neil, along with fellow youngster Callum Doyle was burnt out from being overplayed under Lee Johnson, Hume had recently arrived from the largely semi-pro Northern Irish top flight and hardly featured until the following season, Cirkin was battling injury and personal issues and Clarke and Roberts were struggling for match fitness following a long spell without regular first team football.
Okay, Ross Stewart was absolutely mint, I’ll give you that.
But under the stewardship of the new head coach, our now immortalised slogan, ‘Til The End was born as we scored late winners against Fleetwood, Crewe, Gillingham, Oxford and Shrewsbury as we secured our place in the play-offs.
He lost just once between his arrival and the end of the season and accrued an impressive 29 points from 15 games.
In the play-offs he had an aura about him, and refused to accept the mentality of being destined to fall at the final hurdle.
He laughed off the pressure of playing in front of 40,000 fans at the Stadium of Light, or people ‘shouting boo’ at Hillsborough and when he was praised for his calmness ahead of the final against Wycombe he simply replied, “well what do you want me to be, a quivering wreck?”
Neil was exactly what we needed at that time and after inheriting an imbalanced, fatigued squad into one that became an efficient, winning machine and we capped off our return to the Championship with an excellent, dominant performance in a 2-0 win over Wycombe Wanderers.
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
As I have outlined, our head coach did a fantastic job in getting us promoted, but it wouldn’t be fair to reflect on that season without acknowledging the fantastic foundations laid by Kristjaan Speakman and our recruitment team.
It cannot be emphasized enough how much of a mess we found ourselves in following the 2020-21 campaign, and given the urgency of getting out of League One, it wouldn’t have seemed unreasonable if we disregarded long term strategy and not took a gamble on youth.
However, we backed ourselves to get promoted and set ourselves up for the medium to long term in the process.
Dennis Cirkin is a fantastic example of a player who we signed in League One with a Premier League ceiling and despite a rocky start, finished his first season in excellent form and although he has endured injury problems has never looked back.
Trai Hume, only started a handful of League One matches but has become a firm fan favourite and has been an integral part of our journey from the third tier to the Premier League,
They may have suffered burnout during the 2021-22 season, but giving the likes of Dan Neil and Callum Doyle regular game time showed a clear pathway at the club and has undoubtedly led to the likes of Chris Rigg seeing his future on Wearside despite interest from higher levels.
Another thing the recruitment team nailed in the January transfer window was bringing in players who hadn’t reached their potential but again had a ceiling considerably above and beyond League One.
Jack Clarke’s career was stalling after his big money move to Tottenham and Patrick Roberts was enduring a nomadic career despite his youth.
They weren’t match-fit upon arrival, but in my opinion this was the first time the club had flexed its muscles and not just meekly accepted the calibre of player we could attract at that level.
Clarke and Roberts do not sign for Fleetwood Town, in fact they do not sign for either of the automatic promotion winners that season either.
This approach continued into the 2022 summer transfer window with Dan Ballard opting to sign for newly-promoted Sunderland over rejoining Millwall, who he had enjoyed a successful 2021-22 season with.
Patrick Roberts extended his initial short term contract and Jack Clarke was added permanently, this was also the season that saw Dan Neil, Anthony Patterson and Trai Hume become first team mainstays.
Amad Diallo quickly became the best player in the Championship and Ellis Simms made an invaluable contribution during the first half of the season.
BRINGING IN UNCLE TONY
However, I believe the best work the club did that summer was to not give in to the demands of Alex Neil and swiftly appoint Tony Mowbray, whose reputation for youth development came to fruition throughout the season.
This is not to say that mistakes weren’t made along the way, our decision not to sign an out and out striker to replace Simms and the injured Stewart was bordering on a dereliction of duty and for every Amad, there was an Issac Lihadji or a Joe Anderson but overall a combination of our faith in youth and the exceptional work of Tony Mowbray saw us finish the regular season in sixth place.
The feeling around the club during that season was magical at times, the football we played was fantastic and after a four year slog in League One, it just felt good to enjoy going to the match again.
Even when we suffered a mid-season slump, the fans never turned on the team and when we beat Preston 3-0 on the final day, and somehow managed to win the first leg against Luton, dreams of a back to back promotion were very much alive.
Sadly, things proved to be a step too far but given the injury list we suffered and the youth of the squad, Mowbray rightfully will be remembered as someone who played an instrumental role in our rise from the doldrums.
THE DIFFICULT SECOND SEASON
I will now gloss over the events of the 23-24 season, where the uncertainty around Mowbray’s future just days after the end of our play-off semi-final defeat to Luton set the tone for the season ahead.
Everything from the players we recruited, the appointment of Mr Beale, the handing over of the Black Cats Bar to Newcastle and our meek surrender on the pitch that day, to ultimately finishing in 16th place made this a season to forget.
Put simply, whatever the plan was it didn’t work, the likes of Adil Aouchiche, Timothée Pembélé, Luis Hemir, Nazariy Rusyn, Bradley Dack all either flopped or struggled to make an impact on Wearside and our use of the loan market was horrendous, with Mason Burstow and Callum Styles both enduring torrid times.
This makes the events of the past 12 months, even more impressive and vindicates the long term strategy of the club, like I have acknowledged mistakes have been made and when you analyse the players we’ve brought in there’s a surprising number of misses amongst the hits.
However, with a high risk strategy this is to be expected but it cannot be denied that the opportunities and pathways we have presented potential signings with has paid off.
Anthony Patterson, Dan Neil, Trai Hume, Patrick Roberts, Luke O’Nien and Dennis Cirkin have been at the club from League One to the Premier League and have now become the much needed experienced figures in the dressing room.
Although our 23-24 signings were largely a disaster, Jobe Bellingham has proven to be an outstanding addition and Eliezer Mayenda is proof that players cannot be written off at such a young age even if they don’t make an immediate impact.
GETTING THE APPOINTMENT RIGHT
Fans were rightly frustrated when we took so long to appoint a new permanent Head Coach following Michael Beale’s sacking, and the constant Will Still rumours became somewhat of a saga.
However, when it became apparent that Still wouldn’t be joining the club made a bold managerial choice and to say it’s paid off is an understatement.
It is sometimes easy to forget that when Regis Le Bris’ arrived at Sunderland he had just been relegated with the side who conceded the most goals in the league and fans of Lorient cursed his stubbornness and tactical inflexibility.
We have seen the stubborn side of Le Bris, but from the day he arrived at the club he has been a breath of fresh air.
In the early days of pre-season he made a series of ruthless choices, and the likes of Ba, Aouchiche, Ekwah, Hemir and Rusyn were either not considered for selection at the start of the campaign or loaned out.
He had a clear vision for what his ideal Sunderland starting lineup would look like and over a fortnight before the start of the season he picked an identical starting XI to the one he selected on the opening day against Cardiff City.
Mayenda benefited the most from this and the manager’s faith in the young Spaniard was repaid quickly with two goals against Sheffield Wednesday.
After a blistering start things did tail off for The Lads, but despite playing without a natural left midfielder and dealing with numerous injuries, Le Bris found solutions to keep us solid defensively and kept us picking up points.
Yes, our post-Christmas drop off in terms of home form was a worry, but with five games remaining we had achieved 78 points.
Le Bris was also instrumental in two of our most eye-catching signings of the season in Enzo Le Fee’ and Wilson Isidor, although credit must also go to the recruitment team for being flexible enough to allow the Head Coach to have a say over the profile of player he wanted.
Again, not every signing last summer was a hit, indeed the signing of Ian Poveda on a long term contract was a head scratcher and for a variety of reasons Alan Browne and Milan Aleksic have found their game time limited.
Salis Abdul Samed has also struggled for fitness and form and Jayden Danns never even set foot in Sunderland after his announcement photos were taken.
However, the medium to long term thinking has once again been vindicated as Romaine Mundle admirably stepped into Jack Clarke’s shoes following his departure, and although he didn’t start many games, Tommy Watson came up with the goods to take us back to the Premier League as well as making us a healthy £10m profit.
‘TIL THE END
Le Bris also deserves enormous credit for sticking to his guns during our end to the season where he sacrificed form and momentum to ensure our players were match fit and peaking at the right time for the Coventry fixtures.
It is no coincidence that we scored late goals in all three play-off ties and in the Coventry second leg and in the final we looked the fresher and most likely of the two sides to score the winner in the dying embers of the game.
I can’t write all of this without crediting the players, who have shown resilience beyond their years throughout the season and every single one of them deserved that moment.
The scenes that followed both the Coventry and Sheffield United games proves just how together the squad are with star players and fringe players celebrating as one.
I’ve talked a lot about the lads who have been with us from our journey from League One obscurity to the Premier League, but it’s also significant that the squad last weekend featured six academy graduates.
Finally that was for us, we have seen our team suffer back to back relegations, we have been a national laughing stock as our lack of professionalism was exposed to the world on Netflix.
We have endured the indignity of playing Newcastle Under 21’s in a ‘competitive fixture’, we lost to Leicester City’s under 21 side in the same competition, we watched us draw against Rochdale behind closed doors.
We were lectured by two owners who had no business being at the club in the first place about the ‘Sunderland disease’ and knowing our place.
We almost went an entire year without seeing a home win, we had to put up with Wycombe Wanderers telling us it’s ‘our house and you play by our rules,’ and the same football club boasting about selling out their car park when they played us.
We thought the League One years would never end, we saw us lose to Charlton in the playoffs again, we questioned, ‘why is it never us.’
But we did it all together, we cried together, we despaired together, we watched us win the pizza cup and prove we can actually win at Wembley.
We packed out the Stadium of Light and raised the roof against Sheffield Wednesday in 2022, we scored a stoppage time goal at Hillsborough, and this time it was us as we won at Wembley in front of fans.
We did the Tony Mowbray, we dared to dream we could be a Premier League team again, we lost, we picked ourselves up, we kept the faith.
We went to Coventry, nobody gave us a prayer, we faced down the CBS Arena Galacticos and won. At home roared in the team bus, and then showed the team unwavering support, and although we left it ‘Til the end, we got the job done. We shock the Stadium of Light to its very foundations when Ballard scored.
We took over Trafalgar Square once again, we painted Wembley Stadium red and white, and when Tommy Watson expertly placed the ball in the bottom corner, we cried happy tears, we hugged relatives, random strangers, shouted ourselves hoarse, and now after eight long years we are Premier League!
It’s been a long, emotional journey but moments like Saturday will be cherished and savoured for generations to come. These past few weeks have shown that when The City of Sunderland and the football club become indistinguishable from one another, we can be an unstoppable force.
Wherever their journey takes them, the players at the club right now will never forget Saturday, they will never forget Sunderland AFC.
Congratulations to everyone involved at the club from Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, to the coaching staff, to the admin staff, and to everyone whose unseen work is a credit to the football club.
WE ARE SO BACK!
