Kevin Ball was the first man to lead out a Sunderland side at the Stadium of Light. He is a modern-day legend, adored for his style of play, work rate, and just how much he “got it”. When he played, the passion
and love for the club exuded from him. He was followed in a similar vein by Gavin McCann, Alex Rae, Lorik Cana, and many others. More recently, Luke O’Nien embodied this in our darkest times — and why he earned the moniker ‘Mr. Sunderland’.
They are all players who embodied a natural symbiosis between club and fan. When we watched them play, we thought that’s exactly how we would play ourselves, as fans. There are but a few in the Premier League era who embody this. Most successful Sunderland teams have one; the most successful have many.
Successive seventh-place finishes in the Premier League under Peter Reid characterised this. The spine of Reidy’s teams was made up of players who would go into battle for the shirt.
However, this current Sunderland squad does not just have one, or two, or even many. In this Sunderland squad, they all embody it.
Those surviving from last year’s promotion-winning side all showed this spirit, and all those who have arrived are exuding it too, just eleven games into the season. Never before have I seen a total and absolute mindset evident within the entire collective consciousness of the squad. At the weekend, Regis Le Bris admitted what most surprised him about the squad he inherited at the beginning of last season:
I was surprised when I started here about their attitudes to defend the goal. And here in Sunderland, we have many players who will give their life to keep a clean sheet or to stop a shot.
Those responsible for footballing matters on the pitch have weaponised this in the squad, just as those responsible for matters off the pitch have done so through the ‘Til the End’ marketing campaign. It was just that, marketing, a motto. Maybe even eye-roll-inducing to those from elsewhere.
Coventry fans sang ‘What the fucking hell is that?’ at our tifo, and then we scored in the 123rd minute. Sheffield United fans sang ‘What the fucking hell is that?’ at our flag, and then we scored in the 95th minute. West Ham fans sang ‘What the fucking hell is that?’ at our tifo, and we scored in the 91st minute.
Since then, more late goals: Talbi, Brobbey, Isidor twice, and an own goal.
Peter Drury’s commentary for the game at the weekend on NBC in the United States:
“This place has a heart… Sunderland will not be beaten”.
Regis took this pre-existing desire, and it has become the one singular non-negotiable. If you aren’t willing to batten down in the trenches with 46,000 of us and fight for the good times, you aren’t welcome. Last season, it was almost a drive, a dogged desire to drag this club up from that young and brilliant squad that saw us through. Their desire to get us back to where we belong, for them to be the men who did it, to prove everyone wrong.
Nordi Mukiele, after the Chelsea win, admitted that seeing us fans, after all the shit we have endured, finally feel the magic again is a driving force in his own personal ambitions.
Against Arsenal, it was like we were going to war. Every tackle, every block, every clearance, every shot – celebrated like a goal. We’ve scored away at Walsall or Rochdale in recent years and celebrated less. To beat us at our stadium, you need to be ready for war. To get down in the trenches with us and fight for every ball, for every inch of ground.
Because you can be damn sure every player wearing red and white will be doing that, backed by an entire raucous home end that refuses to give in, and will be cacophonous for the entire 90 minutes. They will kick, shove, barge and head their way to the goal.
To the opposition, Dan Ballard will appear in both boxes and flatten three of you at once to get his head on that ball. Brian Brobbey will push off two more to acrobatically volley it in. We will out-fight you, and we will out-sing you. We will score goals through sheer desire and force of will alone.
With each roar, the pace will quicken, and more Sunderland players will appear like a dog with a bone around a loose ball. With every Wilson harass, Enzo sliding tackle, Xhaka shout and Sadiki interception, the roar – deafening.
Regis speaks of connections in every press conference. With each other, with the coaches, with the club, with the fans. We all need to be connected. We are all already connected. This ‘Til the End’ non-negotiable is drilled into all of them. Why has all of this clicked so quickly after a turbulent summer? It was always there. Dan Neil, Luke O’Nien and everyone else in last season’s squad deserve immense credit for nurturing this in the playing squad and passing it along to the new lads.
In this recruitment phase, we have the best signing, record signing, recorded overall outlay and numerical additions in quantity. But it has all been targeted. Many were specifically identified as top targets, and saying no was not an option. Many others were tracked for over 2-3 years internally.
Every player has been specifically identified for their ability, physicality and mentality. They all fit similar profiles and are now led by an exemplary, world-class captain and leader of men who will demand nothing but the highest standards.
This season has been long in the planning, and the core identity will be to fight for the shirt. It is not uniquely Sunderland, but in a cauldron of passion, it can be weaponised uniquely in the north-east of England that nowhere else in the country can match – and it can only become more and more powerful as performances on the pitch improve with the natural progression of a relatively new squad learning each other’s game more and more.
‘Til the End’ will become as synonymous in Sunderland as Keep the Faith, Ha’way the Lads and Ready To Go. It may have begun life as marketing and morphed into a motto, but at the moment, it feels more like a way of life. It is working, and it is plastered all over the city that is believing again, one undergoing a regeneration on and off the pitch in all aspects of life.
What was that old adage Neil Warnock said? “You’ve got to fucking die to get three points”.
