Two years to the day since Régis Le Bris was appointed as Sunderland manager, I want to express my sincere gratitude for what he has given us over the last two seasons in charge.
Pain, misery and heartbreak often comes with the territory of being a football fan, but for Sunderland supporters, the last eight years have been torturous. So the fact that we are planning trips away to Europe next season is a testament to the man.
It only feels like yesterday that we were losing 6-0 to Bolton Wanderers and 2-1
away to Cheltenham Town on a freezing cold February night and Chris Maguire coming back with Lincoln City and putting us to the sword. It felt like the good times were never going to return. Or if they did, it wouldn’t be for an eternity.
Jump forward two years to June 2024, and we’ve just come off the back of an embarrassing season that involved the hideous FA Cup loss to our nearest and dearest from Tyneside and an embarrassing limp to a sixteenth-place finish in the Championship.
A summer of change was on the horizon, and in came a relatively unknown French manager named Régis Le Bris, tasked with turning the tide and getting us promoted.
Building on his experience from Lorient and his degree in sports physiology and biomechanics, no less, it’s fair to say he’s smashed it out of the park — to quote his first press conference: “We will not play like Guardiola or De Zerbi, because we are Sunderland and I am Régis Le Bris”.
We now had our own chess grandmaster, and Le Bris quickly narrowed down his squad to fifteen or sixteen players —and wasn’t scared to remove those who didn’t fit into his plans.
What’s so impressive is how quickly he was able to get the squad of players and identify those who fitted his philosophy. We often see a manager take time to blend his new ideas and philosophy to a squad of players. It was mightily impressive to see how quickly Le Bris was able to do this, and there’s clearly a very high level of respect from players and staff alike.
Of course, no journey is ever smooth, and there have been bumps and blips along the way, such as the hammerings from Coventry and Nottingham Forest.
However, to beat the Club World Cup champions away from home, to beat Newcastle United home and away, to be part of that unbelievable night against Coventry when we finally overcame the hold they had over us and to experience the weekend at Wembley is already worthy of a statue, in my opinion.
To achieve the club’s highest finish in almost two decades and clinch Europa League football as a newly-promoted team is nothing short of sensational, yet throughout it all, he’s been measured, humble and calm in amongst the chaos and emotion, never getting too high and never getting too low — although it was fun to see that even he could break character after Brian Brobbey silenced Tyneside and when he gave his rallying cry at the end of the Chelsea game.
So, here’s to Le Bris, the man that’s brought the glory days to back to this magnificent football club. He’s given us memories that’ll last a lifetime, and here’s hoping he’s here for the next ten years.
Merci, Régis.
