The boy who lived out the dream of every Sunderland supporter, Dan Neil, has finally left the club to join Ipswich Town on loan before his contract expires in the summer.
What a ride it has been. Only two SAFC supporters have ever led out a winning Sunderland team at Wembley, and Dan Neil is one of them, which goes some way to exemplifying what a fantastic achievement that was for such a young player early into his career.
Unbeknown to most of us — and I suspect this included Dan himself — that victory
last May at Wembley was pretty much the end of the road for him at Sunderland. He’s basically been sat out on the sidelines since, with the club investing heavily in a higher calibre of player and replacing him as captain — ruthless, you may say, but undoubtedly the right move, and it has been essential to our continued progress over the course of the season.
You can only imagine how proud that must have made him and his family feel. I imagine they felt pride every single time he led the team out in red and white, and whenever he scored an important goal for us, too.
The winner away at Swansea when we came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 was probably my personal highlight, but he scored some lovely goals for Sunderland and had a part in some of the greatest moments I’ve experienced as a supporter, so for that I’ll be eternally grateful.
Everything must eventually come to an end though, and whilst he may not have expected that it would be quite this soon, the looming end to his Sunderland contract meant that this decision was for the best for everyone. He’s found himself out of the picture, and now he heads to Ipswich to aid their promotion push. He’s still a young man, and with that promotion experience on his CV he’ll be a huge asset to the Tractor Boys, where he joins back up with his old mate Jack Clarke once again. Hopefully, we’ll see them both back in the Premier League next season.
I’m sure I speak for all Sunderland supporters when I say thank you very much, Dan, for everything you have done for Sunderland. Your contributions were vital in the rebuilding of this great football club and, when other young players decided they didn’t want to stick around to aid our fight to climb back to the top, you did, and you did it with pride. Good luck at Ipswich and I’m sure we’ll see you back at the Stadium of Light very soon — maybe this time as a fan, cheering your team on just like you used to do as a young lad.
