A year ago, Sunderland AFC was newly promoted, and there was a level of trepidation among our amazing fans. We had sold a few of our stars over time, such as Jack Clarke, Jobe Bellingham, Watson and Ross Stewart, at an amazing profit, which provided a platform for our summer 2025 recruitment spend. But would the club succeed in attracting players of the desired talent, togetherness and character ahead of our first Premier League season since relegation in 2017? Would we be able to break the pattern
of most sides rising from the Championship just not surviving their first season with the big boys?
Nothing is simple in football, and when he was appointed, there were questions over the effectiveness of the newly hired Florent Ghisolfi, aged just 40, after a less than stellar time at Roma. We were also unaware of whether our young French head coach, Régis Le Bris, would be able to manage effectively in the Premier League, and whether we could recruit players who would form a team, rather than a group of talented individuals. I was personally concerned that Kristjaan Speakman, one of the key originators of “The Model” behind the resurgence of the club, would feel frozen out by a Francophile leadership team.
We need not have worried. The management team recruited a talented group of players, a true team built around Granit Xhaka, and in retrospect we had an unprecedentedly amazing season of high achievement. When he was signed, the Swiss international was 32; this was a spectacular piece of recruitment and vision, ostensibly accomplished by our young Swiss owner, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, taking a trip in the private family jet. He then engaged Xhaka in the vision for Sunderland AFC, and he has paid us back in spectacular fashion. Xhaka’s passing of a football for Sunderland has been sublime, but his world-class leadership skills were also on display with the solid progress of the Swiss national team in the World Cup.
He is so pivotal to the current success of our club that I am willing to forgive him having his head turned by the new Chelsea boss, Xabi Alonso, the former manager of Xhaka’s previous club, Bayer Leverkusen. These guys appear to have had a “bromance” from their time there. But given the London club’s signing of former SAFC stars Danny Welbeck and Jordan Henderson, it is clear that Alonso is a great admirer of what has been happening on Wearside. The recruitment of young stars, excellent coaching of the ones we already have, some of whom emerged from our Academy of Light, under the constant guidance of a smattering of more experienced heads, has proved a winning formula. We did the double over Chelsea in 2025-26; it was that remarkable late October win at Stamford Bridge which convinced me that the season would be really special.
So, to bolster our young stars and their confidence in a demanding new league, we signed a number of other “Premier League Ready” players aside from Xhaka, although this was not apparent at the time. It was not just the amazing pre-season influx of new players into the club that encouraged fans, it was the way in which players such as Dan Ballard, Trai Hume, Wilson Isidor, Chris Rigg and eventually Luke O’Nien made the transition from the Championship. We all knew that Enzo Le Fée would do that, but even he had to break into the side early in the season, featuring as a substitute in the first few Premier League fixtures.
I felt that we deserved our top-seven finish, not just because of the tenacious late-season wins against Everton and Chelsea, but because of the way we coped with a demanding start and the absences during the Africa Cup of Nations, how we showed up against the top teams, all the time dealing with some high-level management departures. This included Kristjaan Speakman, now Director of Football at FC Copenhagen, the Board member and broadcaster David Jones, and then CBO David Bruce. One must conclude that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is spectacularly good at running Sunderland AFC, despite his age of 28.
The anxiety felt by many fans ahead of last season has dissipated. We have not yet completed our summer recruitment, which is more difficult now that we are seen as a higher-profile organisation, competing in Europe. It appears that clubs – and agents – are holding out for more money when we target certain key players, and this is a cost of success.
I do not feel concerned ahead of 2026-27. We are being sensible in trimming the squad, getting very good fees for some players such as Eliezer Mayenda and Anthony Patterson. I trust the management team at our club to get things right, and even if we do not sign enough football megastars before the end of the summer transfer window, we have a squad of players who have gelled much more than we ever thought possible and who have a year’s experience of the Premier League, with many starring in major international competitions. Throw in hungry young stars such as Tom Proctor, Timur Tutierov, Jack Whitaker and Finn Geragusian, as well as the stunning maturity of Chris Rigg.
Don’t get me wrong, I would like to see a top new striker and at least one defender as we prepare the squad for European competition, as well as competing for domestic cups. There will be major demands on our squad, which need to be met, but the manner of the 2 – 0 victory at Lens, the 2026 runners-up and cup winners in France last weekend, was very encouraging and built confidence.
If I had to summarise the 2025-26 season in a word, it would be “togetherness”. Extreme teamwork has been exhibited at every level in the club, and this is highly likely to continue. Roker Report has featured this quote from Régis Le Bris: “This season ahead isn’t just about the players, it’s about the fans and the club and all being together”. I, for one, cannot wait for it to start.
