In an English league with no shortage of dysfunctional football clubs, few match Sunderland in terms of consistency when it comes to blasting themselves repeatedly in the foot. After a decade in the Premier League during which they survived assorted unsavoury scandals and brushes with the drop, they finally sleepwalked out of the top flight last season under the disastrous stewardship of David Moyes.
A club that invariably attracts home crowds of more than 40,000 find themselves back in the Championship and saddled with debts of £110m; an extraordinary achievement at a time when local devotion and the TV riches that came with such a long tenure in the Premier League should have made them one of the most profitable clubs in the land. The owner, Ellis Short, would love to find a buyer but is understood to have eased off his search after deals from rival bidders this summer both fell through. Few agree with the American’s £100m (and rising, depending on the speed of any Premier League return) valuation of the club.
Recent events suggest promotion may not happen any time soon and if Sunderland are to exit the Championship this season their trajectory is more likely to be downwards. Simon Grayson, recruited from Preston North End in June, has been charged with cleaning up the mess left by Moyes: turning a dispirited and apparently unmotivated squad shorn of their two best players into promotion contenders. An underwhelming appointment who is gradually winning over Sunderland fans with his honesty, the difficulty of the job Grayson faces, which begins against Derby County at home on Friday, could not be more clear.
It was perfectly illustrated last Saturday, when the commercial vanity project that was the Dafabet Cup, staged to celebrate the Stadium of Light’s 20th anniversary, started badly and quickly careered downhill. Following pre-match scenes of violence, Sunderland were humiliated by Celtic. Grayson was promptly given yet another problem to deal with when surreptitiously recorded footage of a tired and emotional Darron Gibson questioning the motivation and loyalty of several team-mates was posted on social media by fans.
Gibson has since apologised but perhaps what was most alarming about his foul-mouthed tirade is that much of what the midfielder said seems to be true. Friday’s game probably cannot come soon enough for Grayson but the prevailing mood on Wearside is one of … well, weary despondency at the prospect of yet another season watching overpaid and undermotivated players. “There seemed to be a slight spike in optimism but the overall shambles of the Celtic game, on and off the pitch, seem to have brought most of us back to earth with a bump,” says Gareth Barker of the Wise Men Say podcast. “Not that we had too far to fall anyway.”
Sunderland, for all their shortcomings on the field and in the boardroom, deserve credit for the support they provided for Bradley Lowery, whose winning smile and close bond with his hero Jermain Defoe captured the hearts of a nation before he died last month aged just six. The club should also be commended for pricing season tickets for under-16s at £50. It is a welcome move that ought to prevent attendances from falling at a time when a new generation of fans is being priced out of the game.
Those occupying the Stadium of Light seats can expect to see Grayson’s side line up in a 4-4-2 formation and the indications from pre-season have seen him lean towards a central midfield partnership of Didier Ndong and the fit-again Lee Cattermole, with two of Wahbi Khazri, Jeremain Lens and the new recruit Aiden McGeady out wide. Khazri and Lens, along with the centre-back Lamine Koné, are the players whom Gibson appears to suggest want to leave the club. They look certain to do so if Grayson can find anyone willing to match their wages. With Koné, John O’Shea and Papy Djilobodji contesting the two central defensive berths and four full-backs vying for two available positions, Sunderland’s rearguard and midfield look well equipped to deal with the Championship, and Grayson will also have Jack Rodwell, Paddy McNair and Donald Love to call on. Elsewhere, goals and the identity of who’s going to score and save them are more pressing areas of concern.
With Defoe gone, an attacking partnership comprising the new arrivals Lewis Grabban and James Vaughan is unlikely to strike terror into the hearts of defences and the duo have not impressed in pre-season. One of few players to emerge from the wreckage of last season with any credit, the goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, has joined Everton and leaves his replacement Jason Steele with extremely big boots to fill. Steele, signed from Blackburn Rovers, will compete for the place with the Dutchman Robbin Ruiter, a free-transfer acquisition this week.
Although Sunderland ought to be too good to go down, there is every chance they will be nowhere near strong enough to bounce straight back to the Premier League. “Grayson has a mammoth task on his hands and if he finishes anywhere near the play-offs I think most would be pleasantly surprised,” says Barker. Gibson’s recent embarrassment has done little to dispel widespread rumours of a drinking culture among players and his loose talk of unrest has been backed up by The Secret Footballer, formerly of this parish. For a club that has won two and lost 14 matches since the turn of the year, the beatings may well continue until morale improves.
