Season Preview: Fourth time lucky for Sunderland?

Sunderland head into the 2021/22 season looking to gain promotion at the fourth time of asking, and knowing that anything but promotion is simply not good enough.

Last season saw the Black Cats lose out in the play-off semi-finals to Lincoln City, having thrown away their chance of automatic promotion with poor form late on in the campaign.

Sunderland did win silverware, lifting the Papa John’s Trophy with a win over Tranmere Rovers at Wembley, but overall, it was a season to forget for those on Wearside with promotion the ultimate aim for the club.

Phil Parkinson started the season as manager and was sacked after 13 games with the club eighth in the league. Lee Johnson was his replacement and guided the club to a fourth-place finish, although they were some 10 points off second-placed Peterborough United.

The 40-year-old remains in charge despite a small section of fans wanting him out after the defeat to Lincoln and will know what he has to do if he wants to still be in charge this time next year.

He looks to be assembling a good squad, but there is a lot of work that still needs to be done at Sunderland to take them into the Championship next season.

Transfers

The main transfer news at the Stadium of Light this summer has been the outgoings. Grant Leadbitter, Chris Maguire, Remi Matthews, Callum McFadzean, Conor McLaughlin, Max Power and Josh Scowen were all released.

Charlie Wyke left to join Wigan Athletic, turning down a new deal at the club, while Denver Hume is yet to agree on a new contract offer.

George Dobson was also sold to Charlton Athletic after impressing on loan at AFC Wimbledon last season.

Will Grigg, Bailey Wright and Elliot Embleton have all been linked with moves, but all remain Sunderland players heading into the season, with Aiden McGeady also reportedly turning down interest from elsewhere before signing a new deal.

Sunderland have been slow when it comes to signings, with just three players having joined the club this summer, but the three players are of high calibre. Alex Pritchard and Corry Evans both come with vast experience at higher levels, while youngster Callum Doyle, on loan from Manchester City, has won trophies at youth level and is very highly rated.

Manager

With Lee Johnson missing Sunderland’s friendly against Hull City with gastroenteritis his assistant manager Jamie McAllister took charge of the side and did the press duties after the game. Speaking to the Sunderland Echo, he said:

“We need strength in depth and we know that, but from the coaching side of things, we can only focus on the lads that are here and getting them ready for the games coming up.

“They’ve acquitted themselves really well in what has been a tough pre-season, the new lads have adapted to our new style of play.

“The big plus for us is the way the youngsters have gone through pre-season, a lot of them who have had to play out of position at times.”

Targets

Automatic promotion. After having two unsuccessful play-off campaigns in previous seasons, Sunderland will hope that they do not go through them and move up into the Championship by finishing in the top two. Promotion is the aim, as it has been for the past three seasons, and nothing else will be seen as acceptable.

Fans on Wearside are growing tired of their team’s stagnation, this season has to signal change for the Black Cats.

Key Player

An obvious choice, but in Aiden McGeady, Sunderland have a player who has played at a much higher level and who can still find moments of magic despite now being 35-years-old.

Frozen out by Phil Parkinson in the first half of last season, McGeady still managed to finish the season with 17 assists in all competitions.

However, it does help having a striker in the goal scoring form Charlie Wyke was in last season. You could put hundreds of good crosses in and finish on zero assists if no-one is there to finish them, and with Wyke having now moved on to Wigan, McGeady will need to hope he can build a partnership with Ross Stewart or Will Grigg.

Many will say that Wyke was not that big of a factor, and that he couldn’t have scored the goals without McGeady, but given the previous two seasons, the Irish winger finished with a combined eight assists in all competitions. In addition, Wyke had also already scored eight of his 30 goals before McGeady even got on a pitch last season.

Even so, the former Celtic and Spartak Moscow winger caught the attention of many last season, and had reported Championship interest in the summer before deciding to commit to Sunderland.

Youth Prospect

This could be a big season for Sunderland academy graduate Dan Neil. The 19-year-old has not had much first team action before this season, but he has shown in pre-season that he could be a useful player for Lee Johnson’s side this time around.

Neil has just six Papa John’s Trophy appearances to his name, with two in the league, although he came off the bench in the last minute of both games.

The youngster has featured heavily in pre-season, both in midfield and at left-back, where Sunderland are currently short heading into the season, and where a chance could present itself, depending on who Johnson can bring in.

Playing against players bigger and older than him should not faze Neil, given he has been fast-tracked through Sunderland’s academy, being a regular in the under-23’s since the age of 16.

If kept at the club, and given the chance to show what he can do, the 19-year-old could establish himself in the first team by the end of the season.

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