Since the last time we visited the Stadium of Light, Sunderland have won at Wembley in front of around 46,000 fans and thus, we have ended our Wembley hoodoo. A win in the Papa John’s Trophy aside, Wembley has been a nightmarish stadium for the Lads. Of course, no one could attend the Pizza Cup final during the ill-fated Covid-19 season. That technically ended the hoodoo, but it also didn’t feel very real. If it wasn’t for the ironic commemorative mug I bought which occupies the corner of my cupboard and the terrifying image of a bloodied Callum McFadzean clutching the cup in the dressing room that is, for some reason, burned into my memory, I would’ve forgotten the whole event.
The latest trip to Wembley was the real win that buried the hoodoo. For most of us it was the first time they have seen Sunderland win at our national stadium. There’s no point in covering them all. A generation of our fans had seen us get beaten there in seven consecutive finals. Until Saturday the 21st of May ended that miserable losing streak. The relief was obvious, with grown men around me moved to tears at the final whistle. The joyous celebrations afterwards in London afterwards were special, bumping into Sunderland fans from all over the country and taking over every bar in central London. However, despite the wild celebrations and overwhelming sense of relief, what we accomplished was in fact no massive achievement. After all, it ultimately only means that we return to the Championship after a four-year absence after finishing fifth in League One.
But it did feel massive.
That feeling is important. Momentum is absolutely crucial in football. It is the elan vital, the life force that seems to give a side a chance in every game, even when a result looks unlikely. Perseverance and hard work can fashion opportunities, and managerial astuteness and dedication off the pitch can gain the upper hand on the opposition, but momentum is the unquantifiable thing, hard to achieve, that teams can just have. It is a mysterious, creative principle which seems to exist psychologically. However you wish to define momentum, last season, we certainly had it going into the final fifteen games. Alex Neil did a fantastic job, but even when we weren’t playing well, the games could turn on their head. The freak own goal against Rotherham, the last-minute winners, the unbeaten streaks, the fact that you just knew we would carve out another opportunity. These are hallmarks of an organised, hard-working, quality side who have momentum.
Things just seemed to work for us at the back end of the campaign and there was an unrelenting sense of optimism around the club, a rarity in the past five years. We have witnessed some of the worst players to ever pull on a Sunderland shirt in the last half a decade which, combined with managerial malpractice and chaotic ownership, has led to the worst period, ever, in the club’s history. The entire feeling around the club was radically different than in previous League One seasons, and the club should look to build on this feeling of optimism, or if it has dithered for some, look to reignite it.
Already, we have tied some of the players who helped us achieve promotion out of League One to long-term deals. Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts, after seeing their careers stall, made the decision to drop down to the third tier in order to play regular football and it worked for them. Now, their careers are back on an upward trajectory. Clarke, whilst not the finished article, demonstrated enough quality at times in his loan stint to suggest that under Alex Neil, he could become a key player for years to come. Roberts has spent the majority of his career on loan but seems to have found a place to settle down finally and he has quality in abundance. The youth-orientated policy has seen us bring in a highly rated centre-half with Championship experience, as well as a promising defender from West Ham.
But those signings of Roberts and Clarke seem like real statements of intent. We still need strengthening throughout the side but getting both on longer deals is really great work from the club. Obviously, not every fan is infinitely full of hope. After all, the acquisitions we have made haven’t massively strengthened our play-off winning side. A pessimist might fret at our central midfield and wonder where our goals will come from, should Ross Stewart get injured. An even bigger pessimist might remind you that there is no guarantee that Ross Stewart will even cut it at this level, where he remains untried.
Going into our Championship campaign, there are lots of ‘maybes’ and ‘what if’s’ surrounding our players. With a lot of our youthful squad short of Championship experience, it is hard to say who will be able to make the step up. The youth-orientated recruitment model however, offers us these ‘what if’s’ rather than ‘definitely not’s’. Our last Championship side was full of players on a downward trajectory, our previous League One rosters bloated with journeymen players looking for a pay day, with no sell on value. We seem to have a squad with the right mentality now and now is the time to strengthen, getting quality players in to supplement the squad. The direction we are heading in is good, we are moving forward positively. We need to keep using this momentum.
At the start of this piece, I wrote about us overcoming our Wembley hoodoo. There is another hoodoo of sorts on the horizon, which needs to be broken. Since we have been in League One, sides promoted to the Championship, in their first season back, have never finished in the top 15 in the league. Coventry and Blackpool stayed up somewhat convincingly in sixteenth, whilst all of the other promoted sides struggled, battling relegation for the majority of the campaign. Luton Town of course, have consolidated, retaining second tier status and pushing into the play-offs last season. It is a remarkable feat for a club of that size, especially considering their rise from League Two. However, Sunderland should be aiming high in our first season back, looking to end that hoodoo of promoted sides struggling.
However, we should not be looking to consolidate. We need to aim high in order to succeed, instead of aiming just to stop up. If we aim low, if survival is just enough we might end up in the Championship for five years or maybe, even end up in a relegation battle. We have the nucleus of a good squad; we have the largest fanbase in the league and we have momentum as a club. It’s time to build on this momentum. We need to strengthen naturally, but we must also show ambition and aim high this year.
