Regis Le Bris sweeps aside a mountain of negativity and pessimism to deliver a start to the season nobody expected and make a push for the Premier League a reality again

Throughout the summer of 2024, few people were optimistic for the upcoming season. Sunderland fan sentiment online was dominated by negativity, still reeling what for all intents and purposes had been a disaster over the previous year.

The sacking of Tony Mowbray, the nightmarish appointment of Michael Beale, the team’s subsequent collapse in form and the horror show surrounding the FA Cup Derby with Newcastle had left bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths and fan sentiment soured towards the ownership and the so-called “model,” indeed even articles were written on this site critical of Kristjaan Speakman and the club’s penny pinching attitude.

Thus, when Regis Le Bris (RLB) was appointed as manager on July 1st, expectations were rock bottom, with fingers pointed at his relatively unfavourable record in French football. Some of the more pessimistic fans even believed SAFC faced a relegation battle as the transfer window which followed again involved investing very little to convince people things were changing, the shadow of “failing to get a striker” looming over Wearside again.

But the date is now, 24th October and 11 games into the season, every doubter is satisfied that they have been proven wrong. Far from a cycle of negativity and frustration, SAFC have started the season better than anyone could have possibly imagined, perhaps the most optimistic would have hoped for a push for the playoffs, yet here we are sitting top of the league on 25 points having won 8 out of 11 games, scoring more goals than any other side. The fact that the push for promotion seems to be competitive and tight this year with big spending sides relegated from the Premier League such as Burnley and Leeds does not seem to phase us.

Against all odds and expectations RLB has proved to be a manager and coach capable of making “the model” work and bring out the best in Sunderland’s incredibly young team, transforming players such as the 17 year old Chris Rigg into some of the most promising prospects in English football and creating a side that despite its inexperience, is fiercely competitive without spending truckloads. This is of course what Speakman always intended to create, but many (myself humbly included) severely doubted its feasibility.

While with Sunderland history teaches us that it is foolish to be too overconfident and optimistic in what lies ahead, RLB has reignited a long dead dream and sentiment within us that Sunderland can fight and push to return to the Premier League again outright. This is the brightest start to the season we’ve had following a near decade of absolute misery that has saw our club plunge to its darkest ebbs, meaning to incorporate this sudden change psychologically as fans is quite drastic.

I can remember well the euphoria that swept this club all the way back in 2007 when Keane and Quinn blasted us off on the “Magic Carpet ride” back to the Premier League, sweeping away painful memories and allowing us to have hope and belief in our club once again, and here’s hoping that should this success continue we can grasp that seem sentiment. It is quite something to reflect on that Chris Rigg was not even born until that season finished.

We are long in need of relief and it feels like dawn has just broken after a long, cold winter night. Long may it continue.