We should never forget how far Sunderland have come over recent years, and the wins we’ve had this season should make us proud of what this club and this team stands for at the minute.
I’ll never get tired of sitting down to write this column on a weekend after Sunderland have won a game.
Sure, after we lose it’s far easier to write emotionally. Anger takes over, frustration seeps into every word, even when you’re trying to look on the bright side.
But this… this will never get boring.
I’m often accused by people who read my stuff or listen to me on the Podcast for being too positive about things. I’m definitely a glass-half-full type of Sunderland fan and I’m totally bought in to the way the club’s being run, so of course, I try and take a more nuanced view on most things — for good and for bad.
Even still, I really don’t understand how anyone can’t feel this way, particularly at the moment when everything is going so well.
I don’t think we should ever forget how bad things actually were at the tail end of the Ellis Short era at our club. There was a very real possibility that the club could have gone into administration — it’s often been claimed that Short had considered it before he sold up to Madrox, though whether you choose to believe that is up to you — and the two successive relegations were hugely damaging. We spent four years in the third tier, and that entire period was undoubtedly the lowest in the 145-year history of this football club.
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I always keep this at the back of my mind when thinking about the shape Sunderland are in at the minute, because it’s easy to lose your sense of perspective and forget just how quickly we’ve turned around since Kyril bought the club and set about completely changing the way we do things.
The fact we’re competing at the top end of the table is fantastic, but there are many ways you can go to get into that position. The easiest route in many respects would be to spend your way out of the division like many others have before, although even then there are no guarantees. As much as certain fans would like the club to do this, it’s clear this regime have no intention of being irresponsible with the club’s cash. When we do get back to the Premier League, we’ll do it our way, and we’ll do it sensibly.
They’ve been very sensible in fact, and some have mistaken that approach for a lack of ambition, but ambition isn’t defined by how much cash you flash. Just look at Hull City, whose very expensive gamble back in January failed to pay off, and now they’ve had to start again from scratch, and their progress has undoubtedly suffered as a result.
We’re perhaps the most ambitious outfit in the division, because we’re trying to do things very differently. We have aspirations to get back into the top tier, but doing it having built the youngest squad in the Championship, one where in every single position you have a realistic chance of developing players simply due to the amount of football you’re exposing them to. I don’t see any other club doing this.
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You might be asking: why are you bringing all this up again?
Well, I do it not only because a) I think it’s important we remember how far we’ve come, but b) because it makes every single win taste even sweeter when you know you’re doing it the right way.
It’s like watching one of your kids do something really cool — you stand back with your arms folded, grinning from ear to ear like a proud parent, happy to see your bairns doing well for themselves.
Of course, we can’t get too carried away as it’s still early in the season, but that shouldn’t mean we can’t enjoy reveling in our victories, so that’s what I’ll continue to do.
Happy days.
