The Boys of 1998/1999: Looking back at our 105-point heroes!

06/17/2024 01:00 AM

Twenty five years on from the Lads' First Division championship-winning season, Phil West reflects on how Peter Reid and the players put right the wrongs of 1997/1998 in spectacular fashion

As a Sunderland fan, there have been a handful of occasions over the years where you'll remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when a definitive moment occurred.

I'll never forget the sense of elation when Carlos Edwards effectively sealed our promotion to the Premier League with one swipe of his right boot in 2007, and that feeling was equalled sixteen years later when Amad casually curled the ball into the top corner from miles out, giving us the upper hand during our playoff semi-final against Luton.

On May 25, 1998, my dad and I listened to the coverage of the Division One playoff final in our living room on his crackly old AM/FM wireless.

Despite the occasionally patchy reception, the drama of the game couldn't be ignored and as we clasped our hands together and prayed for a Michael Gray spot-kick success which sadly didn't arrive, to an eight-year-old who was dreaming of following the Lads in the Premier League, it felt like the roof had caved in.

However, twelve months later, the demons of Wembley had been laid to rest as Sunderland reflected on a season during which they laid waste to their Division One rivals, breaking the one hundred point barrier and putting the top flight on notice that this time- unlike 1996/1997- we were going to be a serious threat as opposed to potential relegation fodder.

The statistics of the 1998/1999 campaign alone are impressive enough, as was the fact that we embarked on a memorable League Cup run alongside our overwhelmingly successful league schedule.

Three league losses all season (to Barnsley, in a game we could've won; away at Tranmere on Boxing Day, and at the hands of Watford at Vicarage Road, in case it ever pops up as a pub quiz question), and ninety one goals scored, with a mere twenty eight conceded in the league.

Indeed, I haven't got a clue what our 'XG' rating would've been during that season, but 'pretty damn high' would probably be a decent guess.

However, numbers alone aren't enough to gauge how we went about our business that season.

Instead, it was our attitude; the hard-nosed, ruthless desire to either bury teams in an avalanche of goals or grind out results through sheer grit and determination. If a game was open and the opportunity was there, we'd cut loose and rip through teams with ease, and if a game was cagey, we'd generally find a way to take something from it as well.

We were seldom outplayed that season, and outfought even less often, as Niall Quinn's post-Wembley prediction that we would 'show that we're the best footballing side in this league' came true in glorious fashion.

With the ebullient Peter Reid in the dugout and the legendary Kevin Ball leading things on the pitch, Sunderland fielded a mixture of young talent and established players, all of whom bought into the vision of a season of domination.

The vast majority of the Lads raised their game to new levels that season, which was illustrated when Kevin Phillips was ruled out for four months with a toe injury.

Would this affect our chances? Not if Quinn, Danny Dichio and Michael Bridges had anything to do with it.

Even in Phillips' absence, the goals continued to flow and at the age of twenty, Bridges turned in one of the best seasons by a Sunderland youngster that I've seen, with his skill and eye for a goal proving absolutely priceless in the race for promotion.

With a front four that was the class of the league and a goalkeeper in Thomas Sorensen who took to English football with ease, the platform for our success was laid by a defence that was marshalled by no-nonsense figures such as Andy Melville, Paul Butler, Chris Makin and Martin Scott, with Gray turning in some sensational performances at left back.

Further forward, with Alex Rae, Ball and Lee Clark running the midfield and Nicky Summerbee and Allan Johnston providing deadly threats from either wing, the rest of the league simply couldn't live with us when everything clicked.

As Ball himself would later observe, this was also a season during which the wider squad played a huge role, and it would be remiss to overlook the importance of players such as Martin Smith, Darren Williams and John Mullin, all of whom contributed in their own important way.

Trying to choose the best results- not to mention the best goals scored- of this most memorable of campaigns is a tough ask.

The gutsy, come-from-behind 2-3 victory at the Hawthorns, perhaps? The 7-0 home walloping of Oxford? Our 1-4 success at Bramall Lane, featuring two superbly-taken goals from Bridges? How about the away victories at Bury and Barnsley to seal promotion and the title respectively?

It was a season of unmitigated excitement, with games selling out, plenty of players at the absolute peak of their powers, and the journeys home afterwards filled with sheer joy at what we'd witnessed, as well as what might be around the corner.

1998/1999 kickstarted what was easily the most prolonged period of optimism I've felt as a Sunderland fan, and maybe that's true of many others who were fortunate enough to experience it first hand.

Everyone doubtless has their favourite Sunderland team, and there are plenty of candidates, from Tony Mowbray's 2022/2023 group to Mick McCarthy's 2004/2005 league winners, but for me, Bally's boys remain the benchmark in the modern era.

They truly embodied everything that a Sunderland team should be, and a quarter of a century on from an unforgettable campaign, their status on Wearside has not diminished one iota.