Born on this day is former Sunderland and current Wigan Athletic striker Charlie Wyke. The forward left Wearside in the summer of 2021 to join our promotion rivals Wigan.
The burly striker joined the lads from Bradford City. Wyke was one of our most expensive signings in our first transfer window in League One, meaning he arrived with a lot of hope and expectation. However, he was signed with an injury which he was unable to shake off for a long time.
Making his debut against Oxford, Wyke scored in a 1-1 draw by getting the slightest touch off a Lynden Gooch shot. However, this wasn’t exactly a sign of things to come in his first season. He suffered a major injury in a 2-1 away loss to Burton Albion, where the opposition goalkeeper put Wyke out of action for another 13 matches. The Middlesbrough-born forward never looked fit after returning from injury, and went on to score just three more goals in his debut season at Sunderland.
The second season was not much better for Wyke, who flattered to deceive yet again. Suffering with another ankle injury during pre-season, the target man was left out of the squad for the first two matches of the campaign. In his first start of the season though, he did manage to grab a goal. This was in a 2-1 win against Rochdale where he scored the winner. Only scoring once in the 2019/20 season before Jack Ross was sacked, the owners decided to bring in a manager who knew how to get the best out of a target man such as Wyke. Phil Parkinson arrived, but Wyke’s output didn’t improve as much as people were hoping. Although the season was ended early, he would still be disappointed with just four league goals under Parkinson, taking his total up to five for the season.
However, our third season in League One is where Wyke began to really shine. He was in formidable form throughout the campaign, having finally had a full pre-season to work on his fitness. With almost no real competition from either Danny Graham or Will Grigg, Wyke was given the freedom to play up front and make his mark as Sunderland’s main striker. He scored his first hat trick for the club in a 3-0 win against Wimbledon, including a smart dink over the onrushing keeper! He went on to improve on his hat trick just a few weeks later, by scoring four goals in one match. Yes, McGeady put them all on a plate for him and the defenders gave him a free header every time, but four goals in one game is still a great feat for any player.
Overall, Wyke scored 30 goals in all competitions and won the attention of suitors across the Championship as well as North of the border. Celtic were the runaway favourites to sign him, followed by his boyhood club Middlesbrough. However, rumours suggested that Wyke wanted a lucrative four-year contract which seemingly put Celtic off the deal. Sunderland were resigned to letting Wyke go, unable or unwilling to meet his extreme demands. Wigan Athletic eventually snapped up the striker, reuniting him with his best mate Max Power. The rumoured wage was £10,000 per week!
Wyke had a health scare in July last year, collapsing in training. He has publicly thanked manager Leam Richardson for saving his life after suffering a cardiac arrest. The Latics' club doctor Jonathan Tobin was also involved, who saved Fabrice Muamba back in 2012.
Since the cardiac arrest he has recovered and continued playing for Wigan. He actually made his return this season, coming off the bench with 20 minutes left to play against Birmingham. During the game he set up the only goal as Wigan went on to win 1-0. He started for the Latics against us at the SoL and on his return to Wearside like every former SAFC player he got his goal, and to be fair to him it wasn't a bad finish right before half time. Thankfully though we managed to turn it around and win the game.
