Page 34 - 364645 LP243221 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 Aug22

WHAT MAKES A GOOD SEASON?
BY MICHAEL LOUGH
Being a Sunderland fan is a rollercoaster of emotions, traditionally we have found ourselves either being in a relegation battle or striving for promotion.
Even under Steve Bruce where we finished an overtly tranquil 13th and 10th during his two full seasons in charge, we didn’t mathematically secure survival until the dying embers of both campaigns. Our other eight Premier League seasons saw a series of great escapes and drama right up until the end and in the four years prior to that we were promoted and relegated twice.
Indeed, since our first ever relegation in 1958 we
have been promoted ten times and relegated on 11 occasions meaning that almost 40% of our seasons since then have resulted in either promotion or relegation. The longest run we have ever spent outside of the top flight is five seasons, a record we will break if we fail to go up at the first time of asking.
In short, historically if Sunderland AFC have competed outside of the Premier League it is their objective to
win the league. However, we have just spent four seasons in the third tier of English football and given the financial powers of many clubs in The Championship, challenging near the top of the league seems
highly unlikely.
So, is the objective to finish in 21st place this season? Although I can understand this school of thought to an extent I do not believe that merely avoiding relegation should be our primary aim. Although we have just been promoted, I don’t think that the fan base would readily accept such a lowly league position.
The majority of the past four seasons has been spent in a perpetual state of frustration and despite and
despite the excellent end to last season and the tremendous work Alex Neil has done since he has come in, the prospect of losing almost every week could quickly bring back traumatising memories of
the 2017-18 season.
Despite playing in a higher league, the prospect of losing regularly to the likes of Coventry City, Luton Town and Blackpool doesn’t sound much more appealing than struggling against Ipswich and Portsmouth. I also feel we should be aiming higher than just scraping survival due to the perilous state of some clubs in the lower echelons of English second tier.
Both Birmingham and Reading are in turmoil, with Reading being deducted six points last season for
breaching profit and sustainability regulations and Birmingham would have been in serious danger of relegation if it wasn’t for Derby being docked a total of 21 points for financial irregularities. Reading also have the added disadvantage of having Paul Ince in the dugout and losing some of their better players so far
this summer.
Rotherham United have also been relegated on their last three outings in The Championship under Paul Warne’s management, they have also lost their top scorer recently and will face an uphill battle to survive this season. Therefore, we should be backing ourselves to comfortably finish above those three teams.
Two other clubs who are struggling in terms of
stability are Huddersfield and Blackpool, both had
great campaigns last season, but both have lost their managers in the close season. Huddersfield have replaced their former gaffer, Carlos Corberán with Danny Schofield who has no formal managerial experience
and Blackpool have opted for Michael Appleton to
come in for Neil Critchley who joined Steven Gerrard
at Aston Villa.
Given the new found stability at Sunderland both on and off the pitch, coupled with the managerial know how of Alex Neil, a boring mid table finish should be welcome and perfectly achievable, although I’m hoping we push for the play offs. Fingers crossed...
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