It’s almost a year to the day since we lost 3–0 at Coventry in a game which probably ended our hopes of automatic promotion from the Championship.
At that point in our journey, promotion was a hope and a realistic ambition – especially after the positive impact made by Régis Le Bris in his first season in English football.
But it certainly wasn’t an expectation. We’d finished 16th the previous season and most people were prepared to be relatively patient. After all, the Kyril Louis-Dreyfus regime made
no secret of their ambitions to move the club forward, but were sticking to their guns of not splashing the cash while developing a team of exciting young talents.
The fate of the football gods got things moving quicker than we expected. Coventry were the opposition once again as Dan Ballard’s header in the play-off semi-final became the stuff of folklore, before Tommy Watson delivered the ultimate gift of Premier League football and the sizeable cash injection that goes with it.
Sunderland had hit the jackpot. Not only were we heading for the big time, our achievement unlocked a new door within the club’s spending plan. Within months, a host of international stars, headlined by Arsenal legend Granit Xhaka, came through the door as we set about a task that no team had managed in two previous seasons – that of Premier League survival.
The current campaign started just as the previous one had ended – like a juggernaut. We brushed West Ham aside on the opening day and went on to beat not only established top-flight sides but also challenged the elite. We claimed three points at Chelsea and earned draws against Liverpool and Arsenal.
What’s more? Well, we beat Newcastle on a memorable day at the Stadium of Light and were unbeaten at home until mid-February – the longest and proudest home record in the Premier League until such a late stage in the season.
Off the field, we had the West Stand named after the much-loved Jimmy Montgomery and have just heard of new plans for the Roker End as part of the Legends Way initiative, which will include a statue of the great man.
As I write, we sit comfortably on 40 points. We are not mathematically safe quite yet, but it would take a monumental change in circumstances for us to be looking over our shoulders at any stage of this season.
You wouldn’t think it, but there were a few groans of discontent both during and after Saturday’s home game against Brighton, with many people heading for the exits well before the full-time whistle. We hadn’t played badly in the game, Chris Rigg had a goal disallowed, and we were beaten by a freak winner. It really could have gone either way.
We’ve had a dip in form lately. It’s a well-known cliché to say that all teams – even the best – have something of a bad run during the rigours of a nine-month campaign.
Until early February, when we defeated Burnley 3–0 at home, we’d not really had a bad run at all at that point, which for a newly promoted side is absolutely remarkable really. After that, we faced both Arsenal and Liverpool within the space of a few days and maybe then, with injuries and suspensions starting to take their toll, things have become more difficult for Sunderland in the Premier League.
Yet it’s still less than a fortnight after a hard-earned 1–0 win against Leeds at Elland Road – and we still have 24 points to play for in the final eight games.
The cup defeat at Port Vale was a huge blow, as it did represent a great opportunity to progress in a major competition with which we have such a proud history – but it wasn’t meant to be.
You can’t have everything in life – and you rarely get most of what you want in football. But we’ve been spoiled over the past year, there’s no doubt about that. I don’t think our players are ‘on the beach’ waiting for the summer, not by any means.
We just have to remember where we’ve come from in such a short space of time. The players of the past two seasons combined have lifted this club to a position where KLD and co have maximum control of the club’s destiny.
With another big summer of recruitment ahead, we can expect more exciting times in the not-too-distant future. And we should never take it for granted. But for now, I can live with a poor run of form. We don’t have time to dwell anyway, we have a derby match to think about on Sunday, and I’ve no doubt that the players will be ready to give it their all.
