STUMBLING NOT SPRINTING

The season is being extended but one of the questions that remain unanswered is: how long for? Will it just be a week and a half, or will there be another date at the National Stadium for us to take in? Whilst we do not officially know who we will face in the semi-finals yet, what we do know is that Sunderland are stumbling their collective way towards to the play-offs. But it should have never been like this at all. We have really made such hard work of the second half of the season.

The first half of this season was nothing short of remarkable. A new Head Coach with fresh ideas which propelled the Lads to the top of the table and even as November drew to its conclusion, we were still at the head of the pack with the big three just waiting to pounce should we falter and stumble. Since then, we have won games against the odds but have dropped points when we didn't need to do so. Have the other sides in the division gotten wise to the Lads’ tactics? Sussed out how to get the better of Monsieur Le Bris? At times he has failed to deliver a Plan B when we’ve needed it the most. Those are the damning things we need to address. To win any trophy on offer, you need to be consistent on a regular basis and find ways to win when your usual system is starting to misfire.

Wilson Isidor has proven to be an absolute marmite striker: capable of scoring brilliant goals such as away at Hull, Smoggies and Leeds but unfortunately missing other chances that a top-class centre forward would put away without a care in the world. That's nothing against him but when you play a sole man up front then I think this becomes the consequence. The departure of Jack Clarke also was something we didn't adequately replace, even though Mundle has been a key player when fit. We know that we need to step it up come the final crunch, if we want to dine at the top table that is the Premier League for the first time since 2017.

That said, the play-offs have not always been kind to SAFC. There has been joy and heartache in equal measure, such is its unexpected nature. Good times such as dumping the Barcodes out of the 1990 semi-finals and winning the 2022 final at Wembley against Wycombe are tinged with the pain of 1998 which left me in tears in a South Yorkshire public house with nobody there really understanding my pain, and then the same team inflicting more anguish 21 years later down the line. Anyone can beat anyone when it comes to these games, you just need to make you are on your A-game for all three matches and if you do then you will be successful. Simple as that…

How we fare in this play-off series will also have ramifications for next season. Win the whole thing and straight away we have an apparent deal in place to sign Le Fée for a club record £20 million. However, losing and staying in the Championship for 2025/26 will no doubt lead to a number of the current squad departing the scene - players such as Jobe for sure and maybe others like Dan Neil, Trai Hume and Anthony Patterson. How we replace those departures becomes a familiar challenge (see Stewart, Clarke, Watson) for Mr Speakman to deal with, but winning them becomes a new challenge in itself. When you are promoted you need to invest ruthlessly in quality, because reliance on those that took you up doesn't work. As much as we love players such as LO9, he'd be exposed in the Premier League by players such as Haaland and Salah.

It's stick or bust, and we're not going into this with a great deal of confidence. Has the bubble burst already or will it just inflate itself just in time and spark mass celebrations in SR5 come May 24? Here's hoping it's the latter...