Sunderland are (almost) in wonderland but will the Blades burst bubble?

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14-05-2025

'Til the End'. That was the message that flashed up on the Stadium of Light's advertising hoardings as Enzo Le Fée lined up a corner with three seconds left in extra time. Back at the halfway line, both managers were scribbling out lists of penalty takers. Sunderland, having produced an early knockdown by winning the first leg of this Championship playoff semi-final, had spent much of the previous 121 minutes and 57 seconds of Tuesday's second leg against Coventry on the ropes. Yet here they were. Le Fée lifted the ball towards the near post, where Dan Ballard mistimed his leap spectacularly, ending up in a sort of crouched star jump as the ball deflected off his head, on to the crossbar, and into the net. The pin-drop silence was replaced by an almighty roar, a collective outpouring of relief and joy that seemed to move in waves as the home fans realised what it all meant. After 15 seconds of letting the crowd be heard (and watching Ballard struggle to get his own shirt off), Sky's Gary Weaver picked up the mic. 'An incredible noise that can almost be heard at Wembley!'
The playoffs are good, aren't they? Fans of Frank Lampard's Coventry probably won't agree this morning, having seen their team concoct but narrowly fail to execute a winning gameplan over 210 minutes of football. 'We're not bitter, but we were the better team over the two matches,' sighed FLC's manager Frank Lampard. Not bitter, just better. But it's Sunderland who are heading south to face another northern powerhouse in red and white stripes. Sheffield United took a slightly different approach to booking their final slot, battering Bristol City 6-0 on aggregate. And just like the upcoming Bigger Vase final between Tottenham and Manchester United – two sides only a couple of rungs up the big league ladder – this will be a showdown where somehow, one of the teams has to win.
Sunderland's playoff record is, in a word, bad. Since being sent down to the third tier by Gillingham in 1987, when playoffs involved teams just above the relegation zone (*gently nudges Premier League suits*), the unlucky Black Cats have played in seven playoff campaigns and only won the final once, in League One three years ago. Beat that, Sheffield United! Ah … the Blades have made the playoffs nine times but have never been promoted – losing and failing to score in four separate finals. The stoppable force meets the movable object at Wembley in 10 days' time, but who really wants to go up anyway? The last two playoff winners are Southampton – who finally surpassed Derby's record low Premier League points total last Saturday – and Luton, who will spend next season in League One.
Perhaps it's not quite so clear-cut, though. Since the playoff final became a one-off game in 1990, 35 teams have won promotion via that route, with 20 of those sides coming straight back down. OK, it's not a stellar record, but bear with us. Taking the aforementioned 2008 Derby vintage as a halfway marker, the survival rate of playoff winners is actually better in recent years. Before Luton and Southampton blotted the copy book, the previous four playoff winners were Fulham, Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa – all of whom have survived and even thrived in the top tier. There is a path that leads from Wembley to Premier League security, it's just getting harder to navigate without a long-term plan and/or buckets of TV cash. Not that anyone in Sunderland, from parents booking train tickets to kids replicating 'the Ballard' in the school playground, will care too much about that today.
My dream now is coming to an end. You have to reinvent yourself. I'm starting to take the blinkers off, opening my eyes. What can I learn? I travelled back and forth from Newcastle to Bournemouth with JT [Jason Tindall] and Purchey [Stephen Purches] for two years. You'd get on the plane: they'd be on the laptop. In the airport, on the laptop, phone. 'Have you seen this, Purch?' You can't switch off. They are constantly thinking about the next game. 'How can we improve?' I am thankful for those experiences, I've sucked it all up. It has given me a picture of what management might look like' – Matt Ritchie gets his chat on with Ben Fisher about his admiration for Eddie Howe, brutal pre-season training with Paolo Di Canio and a dream finish to his career captaining Portsmouth to safety.
That settles it. England are not one of the great football nations (yesterday's Football Daily). Thanks for setting the record straight' – Steve Mintz.
Let me be one of 1,057 people to wonder about 'In the modern era none of the great football nations have countenanced appointing a foreign manager'. It seems only yesterday that Sven took England to Munich and beat Germany 5-1. If that wasn't the achievement of a great football nation, I have to wonder about your definition of 'the modern era'' –Mike Walsh.
So, Sunderland are going to a Wembley final as underdogs. Now that's never happened before (and as a Leeds fan of over 55 years standing, I was only just getting over it)' – Allastair McGillivray.
Could I use your space to defend myself against Nick Jeffery at the head of his hoard of 10000100001 barcode supporters (yesterday's Football Daily letters). The Newcastle strip is clearly not a barcode. The stripes are equal width and equal spacing, and there is no obvious start or end point. Add to that the puzzle of working out a player's arm and sleeve position which leaves handball calls looking like no-brainers. And obviously, not everything that is black-and-white is a barcode. Why, think of a badly scorched polar bear on a pedestrian crossing ... The RFID chip may solve many of Newcastle's 21st-century digital desires, but it's hard to imagine a goalscorer proudly thumping or kissing an anonymous area of shirt to demonstrate his allegiance to an invisible piece of firmware. No, the QR code it has to be. I'm already picturing some massive QR tifos, with dubious messages, sending the suits off to decode is it just Geordie vernacular or is it genuinely inviting Mr Infantino to do 000001?' – Ken Muir.
Send letters to [e-mail]. Today's letter o' the day winner is … Rollover, so we'll have two prizes of official Football Weekly merch tomorrow. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.
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