Editorial: Reflection is healthy — it's now time for Sunderland to smash the rest of the season

03/24/2025 11:50 AM

Sunderland AFC is an amazing football club, with so many unbelievable stories behind why we are who we are. Sometimes, a break and a period of reflection can be healthy. Let's smash the rest of the season.

I don't know about you, but I think I needed a week off from watching Sunderland after that defeat at Coventry. It's not that I don't love the Lads to bits, because I do, but sometimes a break is necessary.

For a little while now, it's felt like we're in a rut, largely because we're in a strange position whereby we already know our fate for the end of the season with such a long period of time between now and then. I had to really rack my brains to work out if this has ever been the case, and I don't believe it has.

The lack of hunger — the need and desire to really fight to achieve something — has come as a result of this, hence why days like Coventry away happen.

We spoke to Rob Mason last week on the podcast — cheap plug: listen to the show here; it was a fantastic chat with a really interesting fella — and when he was asked if he's worried about things off the back of that Coventry game, he said no.

He did say he'd be worried if it became a trend, though.

I think that's about where my head is at too.

The break, as I said before, was needed. We've got to really attack the season from this point, and that means refreshing our minds and coming into this final run of games with renewed purpose and vigour. This is now an opportunity to ensure we go into any potential playoff campaign in a great place mentally, and to do that, we must win games of football and rebuild our collective confidence.

We've spent most of the last week speaking to people just like Rob on the podcast, and it's helped to remind me of why I love this football club so much.

Malcolm Crosby talking about that famous cup run in 1992, when Gordon Armstrong's header sent us into the semi-finals… Steve Aziz talking about how much a close-knit, family-type environment behind the scenes helps to make it a special place to work… the international Sunderland fans who jetted in from all across the globe in a show of loyalty and support for this club and this city… Rob Mason speaking so passionately about how important it is to recognise and remember our history — it's been illuminating.

Sunderland really is a special football club, and after a testing and difficult decade, I think those of us who stuck around through thin and thinner deserve to see this team promoted back to the Premier League.

This is not the same Sunderland that dropped two divisions and lost its identity — this is a club run by and supported by decent, hard-working people, and we've had to work bloody hard to get this club back to a place where people look at us with envy.

They see our young team, our home at the Stadium of Light, our boisterous away following, and our elite training facility, and they understand that this club should be back at the top table sooner rather than later.

So let's remember that. Some iffy form and a bad couple of results don't change the fact that we're a club that's going places, and the season isn't over yet.

Starting again against Millwall on Saturday, we need to puff out our chests a bit and realise what a good team we are. One result at a time, let's work ourselves back into a position where we're the most feared side in the playoff positions and finish the season as strongly as we possibly can.