Niall Quinn’s arrival at Sunderland was exactly what was required at the time, and it was generally a good time to follow the Lads around the country – but looking back now, it was a big era of false dawns.
We thought we’d cracked it with Roy Keane and he was given more money than probably any manager in the club’s history up to that point, which saw us break all sorts of transfer records, but it didn’t end well. In retrospect, it was probably inevitable, but as Ellis Short came on board and diluted Quinn’s influence, Keane didn’t remain much longer.
Steve Bruce followed after Ricky Sbragia decided it wasn’t for him when he was offered to take it on, and for a while, we thought we might have been on the cusp of something good. Young English talent was the order of the day and was combined with the likes of Lorik Cana, and we had a team that had plenty of bite, which was complemented by the goals of Darren Bent.
We could write a whole thesis on the downfall of the Bruce era, but it led to the appointment of the man most of us had wanted as Sunderland manager for a long time – Martin O’Neill.
It was only a year or so after they had been close to taking Aston Villa into the Champions League, and being a Sunderland fan, we just thought we’d finally cracked it. We’d won just three of the first sixteen games before his appointment, and because of his impact, we won four out of his first six in charge and went on to finish 13th and reached the FA Cup quarter-final.
Ahead of O’Neill’s first full season, optimism was fairly high, even though it was only Carlos Cuellar who made his debut in the starting XI on the opening day, when we held Arsenal to a goalless draw at the Emirates. More signings would follow, but the results didn’t. By the time we had the long trip to Southampton in the final game before Christmas, we had only registered three wins.
We were one point and two places above Wigan Athletic, who occupied the third relegation spot, and sandwiched in between was Nigel Adkins’ Southampton, who had a game in hand. It was summed up in the Guardian ahead of the game:
Martin O’Neill’s credentials as a manager have rarely been questioned as much as they have this season after an atrocious run that left Sunderland perched a point above the bottom three.
On a day when the heavens opened with a continuous downpour on the South Coast, it had all the hallmarks of a tight six-pointer down towards the bottom of the table – but it was almost the perfect start. After only thirty seconds on the clock, Stephane Sessegnon unleashed a shot from range and produced a save from former Sunderland goalkeeper Kelvin Davis.
After that, there was the odd half-chance, but both defences were clearly on top until just a few moments before the half-time whistle. It was Sessegnon again who started the move and almost finished it when his mis-hit shot was lucky to find Steven Fletcher around ten yards out, who finished to score his eighth of the season.
There was a brief surge in the second half from the hosts, but overall, the torrential rain dictated everything, and a dull game was a delight for O’Neill when it meant we left with all three points.
Barclays Premier League
St Mary’s Stadium
Southampton 0-1 Sunderland
[Fletcher 42’]
Sunderland: Mignolet, Gardner, O’Shea, Cuellar, Rose, Johnson (Campbell), Colback, Larsson (Bardsley), McClean, Sessegnon (Vaughan), Fletcher Subs Not Used: Westwood, Bramble, McFadden, Wickham
Southampton: K. Davis, Clyne, Shaw, Schneiderlin (S. Davis), Fonte, Yoshida, Puncheon (Do Prado), Cork, Lambert, Mayuka (De Ridder), Ramirez Subs Not Used: Boruc, Hooiveld, Richardson, Rodriguez
Attendance: 31,275
