A Journey of Redemption
After eight years in the football abyss, plunging as far as League One and essentially hitting rock bottom, Sunderland’s climb back into the Premier League felt like a victory before a ball was even kicked. But then something funny happened – the team won its first match of the new season at home against West Ham 3-0, and the emotional floodgates opened. The scenes inside the Stadium of Light after that thunderous return to the top flight in August last year were pure nirvana, and catharsis for a city of fans plagued by almost a decade of heartache and dismal results on the pitch.
New Home for Football
Football’s new home, Stan Sport, is the only place to watch the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, FA Cup, WSL, European World Cup qualifiers, J.League, NSWL and K League. Little did fans know it was about to get so much better, because we’re about to experience European football for the first time in half a century.
Most clubs who are freshly promoted tend to be worried more about survival, but there was a sniff of loftier expectations about this team. The journey started with a bang, then a whimper – a 2-0 loss to also-freshly-promoted Burnley, which snapped fans back into reality. But from there, Sunderland got down to business and strung together four games without a loss, which they repeated regularly during the first half of that season.
Key Moments and Challenges
Then came the moment where we made a statement to the league. A 2-1 away victory over Chelsea in late October pushed us into second on the ladder, and that’s when those thoughts of loftier ambitions started to creep in. But the path is never easy, and the team toiled away: holding eventual premiers Arsenal to a 2-2 draw a few weeks later; then a crushing 3-0 reality check loss to Manchester City in December.
This was all warming up to the main event, and the one match the fans had circled from the moment Sunderland leapt back into the Premier League. Very little compares to the Tyne-Wear derby in terms of the greatest sports rivalries, and beating Newcastle 1-0 (Woltemade own goal aside) gave fans the one thing they wanted – victory over their most loathed enemy.
But then the mixed bag of results continued, with the lowest point (to that point) being the 1-0 loss to League One bottom dwellers Port Vale to force Sunderland out of FA Cup contention with their tail between their legs. Then the return leg of the Tyne-Wear derby on Newcastle’s turf pushed Sunderland to produce arguably the best performance of the season. After copping a goal in the ninth minute, Sunderland fought back from behind to secure a hard-fought 2-1 victory and the first league double over Newcastle in 11 years.
With relegation becoming a mathematical impossibility by the beginning of May, there was a sense of peace about being firmly wrapped in the comfort of mid-table mediocrity. As a fan, I felt like we did enough to run with the big dogs at the pointy end of the table, but then would fall flat on our backs against the bad teams.
A New Possibility
Then with a few weeks left in the season, a quick look at the standings and the run home made something new a possibility – European football. And so it came full circle with a 2-1 win over Chelsea in the final matchday of the season. In front of those fans who exploded with emotion in that first game back in the Premier League. Led by Granit Xhaka, one of the greatest signings in the club’s history. Watching him get emotional as the crowd erupted into one of the most raucous renditions of Wise Men Say I can remember experiencing through a television screen.
The club’s motto is ‘til the end. They made it happen right at the death. Now Europe is calling, and we dare to dream.
