Sunderland Look Forward After Tough Campaign
Sunderland will hope for improved fortunes in the EFL Championship next season after a difficult 2023/24 campaign saw the Vertu Motors-backed side miss out on the play-off places.
Under the guidance of experienced manager Tony Mowbray, the Black Cats had sneaked into the top six the previous season before being beaten at the semi-final stage of the play-offs by Luton Town – who would eventually go on to secure a spot in the Premier League.
Going into the new campaign, Sunderland had to deal with a number of high profile departures, with striker Ross Stewart moving to Southampton, club veteran Lynden Gooch joining Stoke City and winger Amad Diallo returning to parent club Manchester United after a hugely successful loan spell.
Amongst the new additions would be Jude Bellingham’s younger brother Jobe from Birmingham City as well as French midfielder Adil Aouchiche and Ukrainian forward Nazariy Rusyn.
The new season kicked off with a youthful-looking Sunderland facing newly-promoted Ipswich Town at the Stadium of Light, and it was the visitors who emerged on top with a narrow 2-1 win against ten men after Trai Hume was dismissed in the second half. Sunderland had however almost grabbed a draw, with Dan Neil hitting the post deep into stoppage time whilst chasing an equaliser.
After a disappointing exit from the League Cup to Crewe Alexandra on penalties and a 2-1 loss to Preston North End at Deepdale, the first win of the campaign came in the third league match of the season against Rotherham as a double from Bellingham allowed the Black Cats to come from behind.
After a goalless draw on the road at Coventry, recently relegated Southampton made the long trip north looking to extend an unbeaten start to the season but instead, were blown away as Sunderland hit their stride in impressive fashion.
Jack Clarke nodded Sunderland in front within 60 seconds of the start before Pierre Ekwah doubled the lead on just seven minutes – and the Frenchman then added a third before the break. Bradley Dack and Christoper Rigg got on the scoresheet in the second half to round out a 5-0 win that moved Sunderland into the top ten in the table for the for the first time.
Successive 3-1 wins on the road against QPR and Blackburn Rovers followed as Sunderland moved into the play-off places, and although Cardiff then took the points in the eighth league game of the campaign, straightforward victories away at Sheffield Wednesday and then at home to Watford meant Sunderland held a top four spot in early October.
That was followed by a disappointing reversal against Middlesbrough, with a red card for Neil just before the break being followed by four second half goals for the visitors to inflict a third defeat on the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light.
Losses to Stoke and Leicester followed to see Sunderland slip back down to tenth place, before a mixed month that included wins against Norwich and Birmingham, but also saw disappointing defeats to Plymouth and Huddersfield.
Despite a run of two wins in nine, there was still surprise amongst fans in early December when – following a 1-1 draw in London against Millwall - the decision was taken to remove Mowbray from his role as head coach.
Sunderland were three points off the play-off places at the time, with Mike Dodds taking temporary charge and overseeing wins against West Brom and Leeds that moved the Black Cats back into the top six.
His final game in charge would result in a narrow loss to Bristol City before former Rangers boss Michael Beale was appointed as Mowbray’s full-time replacement.
Beale’s time in charge however would prove to be brief, and after just twelve games at the helm – including an FA Cup exit to fierce rivals Newcastle – he departed in mid-February with Sunderland sitting tenth in the table.
Beale left following defeats to strugglers Huddersfield and Birmingham, which started a run of six successive losses. That hadn’t happened to the club since 2006, and left the Black Cats down in twelfth spot and looking over their shoulders more than looking forwards.
A home draw with QPR and a win away at Cardiff arrested the slide before a 5-1 home loss to Blackburn that Dodds insisted was ‘unacceptable’.
With the play-offs long gone, but safety from relegation secured, the final six games would yield just one win – against WBA – which was also settled by the only goal scored by the Black Cats in that period as a season that had started with huge promise ended with a 16th place finish.
Keep to now look forwards rather than back, Sunderland will go into the 2024/25 season with a new boss in place after Frenchman Regis Le Bris was brought in as Beale’s full-time replacement.
Although new to the English game, Le Bris has already made his aims clear for his first year in charge – urging fans to become the ‘twelfth man’ and help push the Black Cats on to success on the pitch.
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