‘Til The End’ is no empty slogan — it sums up Sunderland’s entire ethos

When Sunderland opted for ‘Til The End as the battle cry for the 2024/2025 Championship playoffs, I must admit that I felt it was in danger of becoming a bit cliched and a bit tired.

After all, it had been used twice before, first during the successful League One playoff run under Alex Neil, and one year later, when we fell painfully short against Luton. Was it time, therefore, to choose something different, or could those three simple words inspire the Lads and the supporters to take the next step

and make a return to the Premier League?

The answer — as we memorably found out against Coventry City and Sheffield United — was an emphatic “yes”, and after goals from Enzo Le Fée and Wilson Isidor helped us to a thrilling, come-from-behind victory against a dogged Brentford side on Saturday, it’s abundantly clear that this simple phrase is no vacuous statement, dreamed up by a paid-by-the-idea PR team.

Instead, it sums up Sunderland’s entire philosophy as our new era continues to take shape and the players continue to show their top flight mettle, and as this game reached its climax, we once again saw just why the club was so eager to bring these lads to the Stadium of Light.

Saturday’s clash with the Bees featured an interesting dynamic.

We were coming off losses in the league and the League Cup, whereas they’d seen off Aston Villa at home and were doubtless looking to test the credentials of a newly-promoted side. Indeed, they served early notice of their intent when Dango Outtara gave them the lead before VAR intervened, but when Kevin Schade’s penalty was saved by the impressive Robin Roefs, it surely felt like the turning point in a game during which we’d more than held our own.

However, when Igor Thiago’s header looped over Roefs’ head and into the back of the net, it felt like a case of “three strikes and you’re out” for Sunderland as the mood changed, and the prospect of a galling home defeat began to loom large.

And then came Le Fée’s intervention from twelve yards.

Renewed belief. And just when it looked like a draw was to be the outcome, Granit Xhaka arced a superb cross into the Bees’ penalty area and Isidor did the rest, with the reaction inside the stadium telling its own story. Becoming a father one day and scoring a winner the next? All in twenty four hours’ work for the popular French forward — a player whose personality is tailor-made for our club.

It’s abundantly clear that under Le Bris, the Lads are determined to make up for any shortcomings in quality — of which there haven’t been as many as we perhaps feared — by being a hardworking team; unified and utterly focused on eking out results by hook or by crook.

After seeing off a below-par West Ham on the opening day, the trip to Turf Moor was frustrating, as was the League Cup exit to Huddersfield, but there was never a sense of panic from within the camp, just a calm and measured response that ultimately set the tone for Saturday’s late escape act — something that’s become a hallmark of our unflappable head coach and his group of players.

Le Bris made the big calls on selection, set us up in a specific way, and was eventually rewarded. You can always tell when Sunderland players have full faith in their boss and vice versa, and this was undoubtedly one of those occasions.

Comparing this squad to the sorry rabble who dropped out of the top flight in 2017 isn’t worth your energy. They’re driven, wholehearted, blessed with immense fitness and work rate, and crucially, they clearly understand what it is to be a Sunderland player and to represent a fanbase who are adopting new heroes even in these early days of the season.

‘Til The End has featured on t-shirts, hashtags and of course, a giant mural that greets traffic passing through the heart of the city. It underpinned Dan Ballard’s moment of glory against Coventry, it spurred Tommy Watson on at Wembley, and it’s undoubtedly the driving force behind the efforts of the current squad.

They’ll never give up the fight and although the season is still young, there are enough encouraging signs to suggest that the battle for survival is one we can win. Furthermore, the international break — although frustrating in its timing — will be accompanied by a sense of real positivity on Wearside.

It’s easy for a newly-promoted side to simply settle for a ‘making up the numbers’ mindset, but there have been no signs of that from Sunderland thus far. That’s the way it should be, and it’s setting the standard that we need to hit for the challenges ahead.

---