On this day in 1994, George Honeyman was born in Prudhoe, Northumberland.
Brought into the Academy of Light at ten years old in 2004, Honeyman would spend a decade impressing in the youth and under-21 set-up before finally making his full debut in February 2015.
Honeyman was handed his debut by Gus Poyet in a fifth-round FA Cup tie away at Bradford City. Coming on with only four minutes left in a 0-2 defeat isn’t ideal and, apart from being an unused sub in a matchday squad versus Stoke, that would
be the end of his involvement for the season.
Over the next two seasons, he would make only seven appearances until, following our relegation from the Premier League, Honeyman would appear 42 times in an unsuccessful Championship season.
Following a second successive relegation, Sunderland were preparing for the 2018/19 League One campaign. George Honeyman, at only 23 years old, was appointed captain for the season by manager Jack Ross, the first academy player to be given the honour since Michael Gray. He would go on to make 44 appearances during the season, scoring eight goals in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to get promoted back into the Championship at the first attempt.
Honeyman was sold to Championship side Hull City in the summer of 2019. He would play three seasons for the Tigers in the Championship and League One, being part of both relegation and promotion campaigns. While with Hull City, he was an important part of their team, being nominated for EFL Player of the Season and being included in the EFL Team of the Season for 2020/21.
The next move for Honeyman came in the summer of 2022 when a transfer to fellow Championship side Millwall was completed. Another three-season stint in which he played 116 games for the Lions in the Championship, this time with neither promotion nor relegation seasons.
It’s telling that in the previous five years of his career, he’d been relegated twice, promoted once and reached a play-off final. Hovering between the Championship and League One seemed to be his calling.
Honeyman has never been workshy and puts effort in all over the pitch. Various managers over the years have been impressed by his leadership skills and while, as a midfielder, his end product has sometimes been called into question, his work rate rarely has.
This has translated to, so far, him being named captain at both Sunderland and Blackpool. In my opinion, he was unfortunate to come through the ranks at a very turbulent time, a transitional time in the worst possible way.
Honeyman always had the potential to be a big player for us, talented and very busy off the ball, and his potential legacy at Sunderland has been tainted with relegation. He played in a poor team at a bad time and the fanbase scapegoated him in some ways as being part of that.
He was certainly not without fault, but maybe in a different era, things could have turned out differently for him.
Honeyman is, at time of writing, still playing at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, having been transferred from Millwall in June 2025. The now 32-year-old (happy birthday, George) suffered a calf injury which has unfortunately ruled him out for a few weeks after starting Blackpool’s League One season under Ian Evatt.
The only major surprise about his move to ‘The Tangerines’ was that after having spent his whole career playing for The Black Cats, The Tigers and The Lions, a move to the DR Congo national side wasn’t on the cards.
