If there was one thing missing; one final touch that would’ve truly completed an unforgettable day as Sunderland secured a European berth for 2026/2027 after that iconic victory over Chelsea back in May, it would’ve been a rousing rendition of a seldom-heard chant once the music stopped and the layout of the final league table was known.
Picture the scene…
The final whistle blows and Dan Ballard’s phone signal holds up for thirty seconds as his teammates gather round and await confirmation of results
from elsewhere.
Gradually, the news filters through, the players and the fans erupt, and a chorus of Having a laugh/taking the piss/Europa League with Régis Le Bris breaks out. The perfect finale? You bet, but you can’t have it all and for most — if not all of us — the very fact we’d done it was more than satisfactory.
That was then, however, and this is now.
All focus has switched to 2026/2027 — a campaign that’s drawing ever nearer and the road to which kicked off with a fairly routine 1-5 away victory at York City on Saturday, with Chris Rigg, Enzo Le Fée and Reinildo back in action a welcome sight for those that made the trip to the LNER Community Stadium.
A new challenge for us all? Yes.
Players eager to show their worth on the domestic and European stage? Check.
Fans dreaming of trips to Italy, Holland and Spain and unforgettable clashes under the lights? They’ll be there.
One composed, insightful and charismatic head coach that’s been tasked with steering the club through what’ll be a historic if extremely demanding campaign? All in order.
Despite a season and a summer like no other, Le Bris, being Le Bris, probably won’t be basking in any feelings of satisfaction and therefore liable to fall victim to complacency after becoming the first Sunderland boss in history to guide the club into European competition by virtue of our league position.
He’s clearly too restless, too grounded, too driven by what lies ahead and too determined to advance the red and white cause for that, but at the same time, it’s hard to imagine that he won’t feel a sense of pride at the opportunity that lies before him — that of overseeing Sunderland’s Premier League campaign whilst plotting a course through the group stages of the Europa League.
And really, why shouldn’t he?
Just over two years since he arrived as a relatively unheralded (to fans such as myself, anyway) if promising coach from Lorient, Le Bris’ impact on Wearside has been notable and it’s absolutely right that he should be the man to lead us into battle against European opposition whilst attempting to consolidate our position as a competitive mid-table outfit in the league.
Promotion in his first campaign and a top seven Premier League finish in his second — all achieved in a relatively short space of time and in the most thrilling fashion imaginable with some of the greatest players of Sunderland’s modern era contributing enormously — puts him up there with any Lads boss of modern times.
That said, and as we heard when he spoke post-Chelsea, he clearly has no intention of resting on his laurels and it’s essential that he’s given the tools needed to oversee continued progress during 2026/2027, and I think we can feel confident that Florent Ghisolfi and his team will do just that.
In keeping with the way of the modern Premier League, pockets of speculation regarding the security of Le Bris’ position reared their head from time to time last season, but forget all that hogwash about the club being unafraid to make tough decisions and the like.
Sometimes the best call you can make is to back the man in charge (we’ve heard no actual words to that effect from the club and I certainly don’t think we need to), and give him the resources he needs, thereby showing that the willingness to make changes is occasionally a vice and not a virtue.
Stability is something we’ve often seldom enjoyed during the past two decades, but if ever there was a time to break that cycle and ease ourselves out of the habit of changing the man in the dugout too regularly, it’s now.
Le Bris is no fool and won’t be under any illusions about the scale of the task he faces.
However, with everyone pulling in the same direction and a highly talented, committed and wholehearted group of players that’ve thrived under his management at his disposal, everything is in place for this club to mount a strong challenge on multiple fronts next season — albeit with the caveat that there remains plenty of work to do in order to retrofit the squad to deal with the demands of domestic and European football.
He’s earned this.
He’s clearly ready for it, and although becoming the first Sunderland boss to lead us into a third successive season since Steve Bruce represents a stark slice of history, Le Bris will be writing his own history when the new season kicks off next month.
