Sit back and embrace the new Sunderland way!

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

---

Five years ago, Sunderland were preparing for a third straight season in League One with George Dobson and Grant Leadbitter as midfield options.

Today, Premier League Sunderland have a midfield consisting of multiple players with Champions League experience, including Bundesliga and FA Cup winner Granit Xhaka.

The past five years have seen Sunderland rise from our lowest ever league position to a return to the top flight that has been a long time in the making. Apart from that one dud season with a sixteenth-place

finish in the Championship, we’ve been on the rise for a few years, and it’s a nice feeling.

There was a lot of talk in February and March — particularly when results started to stutter but a playoff spot was still very likely — about whether we were ready for the step up to the Premier League. This was a good argument.

Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images

I remember watching Mike Dodds’ Sunderland get humped 5-1 on Easter Monday 2024 and as the Stadium of Light emptied faster than my pre-match pint glass, the Premier League felt a lifetime away. Less than a year later, Tommy Watson sealed a Wembley win for the ages but I don’t feel like we’ll be unprepared for our first dance in the top flight since 2017.

On Watson, it’s hard to think of another goal that’s represented more of a ‘sliding doors moment’ for this football club.

Lose at Wembley and we’re preparing for a trip to Wrexham and chasing signings such as Louie Barry on loan. But as soon as the ball nestled in the bottom corner of that goal, a domino effect that could well catapult Sunderland AFC to a level of structure and organisation the likes of which we’ve never seen was triggered.

The signing of Xhaka and the imminent signing of goalkeeper Robin Roefs from NEC Nijmegen takes our summer spending to over £140 million.

This is a figure none of us would associate with Sunderland after doing things on the conservative side for years. This is a new version of the club, with a focus on youth but also more experience, and we’re finally finding the combination that could be a recipe for success.

Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images

The transformation has been nothing short of astounding and in a relatively short space of time, those in the club hierarchy who were taking the piss out of us have gone.

In their place is an owner and figures both on and off the pitch who seem to know what they’re doing. A two-pronged sporting director setup of Florent Ghisolfi and Kristjaan Speakman is working wonders, and when throwing Régis Le Bris and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus into the mix, we have a setup that’s working very well.

Years ago, former co-chairman Charlie Methven said that ‘the piss-taking party stops here’.

It wouldn’t stop with him and his salmon-coloured trousers, and it’s taken far too long, but at last I can say with confidence that we’re done with the chaos, and please, for the love of God, don’t prove me wrong, Sunderland!

More from rokerreport.sbnation.com:

• Roundup: Sunderland 'Stranded' In Southampton; Moyes Bemoans Bad Luck & Watmore Claims Unity
• As Yet Another Defeat Blends In With All The Others, Questions About Our Future Still Remain
• The Relegations: #2 - 1969-70
• BCA: The Magnificent Twenty Seven
• Fan Focus: The Ugly Inside Talk Saints v SAFC
• Is Ellis Ready To Embrace The Drop?
• PLP: Can Chelsea Or Liverpool Win The League?