With England’s painful – and arguably avoidable – exit from the World Cup at the semi-final stage still fresh in the mind, a quick turnaround before the return of club football was the perfect tonic.
I always think of pre-season friendlies like an appetiser at a fancy restaurant; they’re not what you’re there for and they aren’t for everyone, but they can tide you over nicely while you wait for the main event. As many have pointed out, they’re glorified open-air training sessions and should not be
used as any kind of barometer for how Sunderland will perform when the real action starts. As a case in point, some of our best campaigns were preceded by a poor run of results in friendlies, while David Moyes’ side went unbeaten in pre-season, so there’s really only so much you can draw from them.
Of all England’s many fine cities, York is one that has remained elusively absent from Sunderland’s away-day roadmap in recent years, so it was great that the club had finally arranged a friendly against the Minstermen. It was certainly more tantalising than the traditional South Shields/Gateshead double-header, which has started to grow a little stale, and the hosts would be buoyant after their dramatic final-day promotion in April, so a stern test awaited.
Such an appealing destination would normally be a prime candidate for an overnight stopover, but I’ve agreed to refrain from these on domestic trips as part of the Europa League Treaty recently ratified with the other half, so it was a same-day return on the LNER from King’s Cross for me and a couple of London Branch cohorts. Annoyingly, the train operator’s namesake stadium is located ridiculously far from York station, as seems to be the case with many of these lower-league clubs in beautiful cities (looking at you, Oxford).
Fortunately, we arrived with plenty of time for a few pre-match refreshments in The Old Bank and, as expected, there was a healthy contingent of thirsty Mackems in attendance. There was the usual chaotic mix of football fans, stag and hen dos, and general weekend hedonists, all contributing to a party atmosphere that seemed to permeate the whole city.
There was time for a few further pit-stops at the Roman Baths (actual baths not included) and the wonderfully old-school Three Cranes, where fans shared stories of the World Cup and their dream European fixture list as the ales flowed. There was even a public display of EU flags celebrating our upcoming Europa League campaign (cynics might say this was something Brexit-related, but don’t listen to that negativity).
A few dissidents advocated sacking the football off in favour of an extended pub crawl, but we’d travelled a long way from the capital and decided to make our way towards the ground with about an hour to go before kick-off. It was just as well we did, as we saw the vast throng of fans queueing around the block looking to make the same journey and realised we probably should have set off about three rounds earlier. The poor number 9 bus, taxi ranks and even Uber didn’t stand a chance.
Thankfully, one of our group was able to wrangle a special cab service from his fancy hotel (the perks of splashing out on more than a hostel, Airbnb or Premier Inn), so we didn’t miss too much of the action beyond Enzo Le Fée’s opening goal. Perhaps it was just the air of pre-season optimism, but even the pink Elvis kit didn’t look nearly as bad in the flesh.
Sunderland turned in a controlled and clinical performance, effectively ending the game as a contest in the first half with four well-taken goals. Credit goes to York, who battled gamely throughout, and the youthful second-string XI that took to the field for Sunderland after the break will have learned a lot from the experience.
Whilst it was an enjoyable appetiser, pre-season will really step up a gear when the Lads jet across the Atlantic to take on a strong trio of opponents in Liverpool, Leeds and Wrexham. I’m insanely jealous of anyone making that trip, but we’ll have to settle for a trip across the Channel for the Lens match instead.
The World Cup was a welcome distraction to bridge the gap from that wonderful afternoon against Chelsea, but the real business will be back before we know it, and I, for one, can’t wait.
