Welcome to officially the final part of my chronicles of "Life the The Lads": a journey which began in 1971 and 52 years later, still keeps trucking on. In these times, we have seen moments of joy such as winning Championship to moments of sheer despair and desolation such as back to back relegations. We left the fifth part on a knife edge where the Lads had suffered Wembley heartbreak not once, but twice, at Wembley in one season. Could Sunderland recover from this and start the road back?
The 2019-20 season would be different to recent seasons as the final positions were determined on points-per-game, a hark back to the olden days before goal difference was brought in. After the previous season's efforts, the expectation was that Jack Ross could lead the Lads to promotion because we had been so unlucky to miss out in 2018-19. The start was reasonable by all accounts but winning positions had been changed into draws far too often for some people's liking. A loss at Sincil Bank was the final straw for Ross, and Stewart Donald decided to dispose with his services despite the team lying 6th in the table at that point. The decision baffled a number of us, but Donald assured us it was the right one. Former Bolton manager Phil Parkinson was brought in to take over and although the home form was decent, one home loss all season, it was away from the SoL where the Lads struggled. So when COVID caused the league programme to be curtailed with still ten to play, they suffered for those draws and losses.
That season also saw more mess off the pitch too with the news on New Year's Eve 2019 that Donald wanted to sell after just 18 months ownership. The reason for it, supporter unrest and to be honest I was never overly convinced by him even from day one. He struck me then, and right up to his final day, as a bit of an alleged chancer. Unfortunately, we see this a lot in football these days. Stewart Donald and Sunderland AFC were like a quickly arranged shotgun wedding, doomed from the very start.
After the COVID curtailed season, the following season was more obscure as every game at the SoL was played behind closed doors. Parkinson wasn't exactly pulling up trees and at the end of November, 13 games in, Donald decided to get that revolving door working again and bring in Lee Johnson, who himself didn't really start off well. But the Lads suddenly hit a vein of form from mid-February to mid-April. Three consecutive losses at the business end of the season derailed the automatic promotion bid and as a result, put us in the play-offs for the second time in three seasons where Lincoln City ended those dreams. There was a trip to Wembley though, and celebrations as Lynden Gooch's 57th minute strike won the EFL Trophy for us against Tranmere Rovers. A sign of things to come?
Before the season ended, that doomed marriage between the Lads and Donald got a divorce. The Oxfordshire guy sold his controlling interest in the Lads to a young French guy named Kyril-Louis Dreyfus. The relief the sale caused was palpable, anyone would think it was like the Munchkins celebrating the demise of the Wicked Witch of the West in the Wizard of Oz. Not for a long time had the fanbase felt so assured that our club was in safe hands financially.
2021-22 was attempt number four to try and get back to the second tier. Whilst the Lads were never out of the top six, topping the table on a few occasions, there were a number of away day horrors especially at Portsmouth and Rotherham that made you think was Johnson the right fit? When the Lads crashed 6-0 at Bolton, in front of 6000 away fans too, that was the end of the road for the former Bristol City manager. Former Norwich and Preston manager Alex Neil was appointed as successor and even though he lost his first home game, the team went unbeaten from then on and made the play-offs for a second campaign. Could the semi-final against another fallen giant in Sheffield Wednesday be overcome? It was probably the toughest semi-final of the two but the Lads stepped up in the home leg and dug in away from home to head back to Wembley in dramatic circumstances. Two words: Paddy Roberts! The final saw us banish those woes against Wycombe and Alex Neil had done wonders in three and half months where others had failed.
If that season had seen emotions head upwards, we would see it go through the proverbial roof in 2022-23. A mixed bag of a start saw the Lads languish in mid-table and get a jolt when Neil walked out on us to take over the vacant role at Stoke, a divisional rival but for him nearer to his home. Still to this day, many view the Scot as an alleged rat in the way he scurried away and it's understandable why those thoughts are prevalent. But then again, we've seen that before in the shape of players such as when Didier Ndong down tools. Kyril brought wizened experienced campaigner Tony Mowbray, who despite his Smoggies connection, slowly built that side that enthralled us last season. It made young wingers such as Amad Diallo and Jack Clarke better than they had ever performed for a long while and rejuvenated players such as Roberts whose footballing career was seemingly floundering. As we know, we made the play offs but injuries in defence especially ruined any hope of back to back promotions. They had done us and the City absolutely proud though as a whole.
Now what will this 52nd season of supporting the Lads bring me? At the moment, it's been a bit topsy turvy hasn't it with one minute brilliant and the next one being absolute rank rotten. It's far from a write off, but this is what following Sunderland does to you. It's never a dull experience for sure. I wouldn't want a "Life with The Lads" to be any different, long may this continue through the rough and the smooth. Sunderland AFC is definitely a religion and the SoL, like Roker before, is our church. It never will ever, leave me and you.
