Sleeping Giants: Sunderland v Leeds United

Tonight, in the EFL Championship, Sunderland face off against Leeds United in what, if early season form is anything to go on, could be a crucial game in the race for promotion to the Premier League. The reality of it is, if the idea of “football heritage” is to be believed, is a game that should be being played in the topflight rather than being a game that could decide if either of the two teams will play there next season.

Sunderland are very much a sleeping giant in English football. They dominated in the early days of the old Division One, winning 6 league titles between 1891 and 1936. Since then, however, the club has won two major trophies, both the FA Cup, one in 1937, and the other in 1973, coincidentally against Leeds United. The 1973 FA Cup final is seen as one of the competitions greatest stories, Sunderland were sat in the Second Division at the time, and Leeds United were force the reigning champions and seen as one of the best teams in the country. The game ended 1-0 thanks to an Ian Porterfield goal in the first half, and more notably an incredible save from Sunderland’s Jimmy Montgomery in the second half, what is often considered to be one of the greatest ever saves in football. It was also the first English cup final that was attended by one of the games greatest ever player, Johan Cruyff, who said that the game was “a great cup final. It have everything we wanted it to. The underdog won.”

In retrospect, it feels like the game should’ve been the moment that Sunderland kicked on and got back to being one of the best teams in the country again. However, it’s been 50 years since Bobby Kerr lifted the FA Cup and the club haven’t won a major trophy since and it’s fair to say that in the last 50 years, the club has only had two good league seasons, being the 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 Premier League seasons under Peter Reid that saw the club finish in 7th place both times. The only other high point the club would reach would be getting to the League Cup final in 2014, which they would go onto lose to Manchester City 3-1. The club would then be relegated from the Premier League in 2017, and then again the following year, putting the club in the third tier of English football for the first time since 1987 and only the second time in the club’s history. Unlike the 1987/1988 season though, the club wouldn’t be able to gain promotion back to the second tier first time, and Sunderland would spend four years there before eventually making their way back into the Championship in 2022.

The first season in the Championship was a success and Sunderland would finish in a playoff position (they would go on to lose in the semi-final to Luton) and a sense of optimism was there ahead of the 2023/2024 campaign, the idea that Sunderland could be a Premier League team again wasn’t as far-fetched as it was five years earlier. But, as has often been the case over the years, things wouldn’t go to plan. Tony Mowbray, who had become a fan favourite, would lose his job. He would temporarily be replaced my first team coach Mike Dodds, who in his interim spell would lead Sunderland to a 1-0 victory over Leeds in this fixture last season and ending his spell with a record of two wins and one defeat. Eventually, after weeks without a full time manager, the club appointed Michael Beale, who would never have the same connection to the fans that Mowbray did. The stained relationship that was there from the start between Beale and the fans wouldn’t last long though, as Beale would last just three months in the job, which saw him win just four of his twelve league games as well as suffer a 3-0 home defeat to rivals Newcastle in the FA Cup third round. Mike Dodds would take charge again, this time for the rest of the season. His second spell wouldn’t be as successful, with Sunderland picking up just nine points from thirteen games, however one of the best moments from this spell would come away at Leeds as Sunderland held Leeds to a 0-0 draw, which proved to be a crucial factor in Leeds missing out on an automatic promotion place. Sunderland would finish the season in 16th place.

Based on last season, it’s easy to understand why many weren’t too optimistic about Sunderland’s chances of a serious push for promotion. They are coming off the back of one of the most uneventful and least promising seasons in the club’s history. But it’s clear that the club wanted to learn from their mistakes from last season. The club didn’t jump in and appoint a manger straight away, they took their time and assessed their options, before eventually landing Regis Le Bris from Lorient in France. The summer business went about and new faces were brought, most notably Alan Browne from Preston, and the loan signings of Chris Mepham, Wilson Isidor, and Salis Abdul Samed. But perhaps the best business the club conducted over the summer was tying down three key players to new contracts, those being Dan Ballard, Jobe Bellingham, and perhaps most notably, 17 year old wonderkid Chris Rigg, who was handed the short number 11 to go alongside his new deal.

Sunderland go into this game off the back of one of their best ever starts to a league season, winning six and losing two of their opening eight games and currently find themselves top of the Championship. They have a clear and direct style under Regis Le Bris that was missing last season. They have looked a lot more comfortable off the ball, and rank 20th in the league for average possession per game, suggestion that this is the style of play that they are trying to play. At the back, the have been hard to break down, and perhaps this is helped by how well they defend from the front. Pressing the ball isn’t something that associated with Sunderland, however this season one of the main things that stand out about them is just how well they do that.

Four of those six wins have come at home. So far at home, Sunderland have beaten Sheffield Wednesday 4-0, Burnley 1-0, Middlesbrough 1-0, and Derby County 2-0. It has been more than impressive from the Black Cats, and for the first time in the clubs history they haven’t conceded a goal at home in their first four games. Away from home has been somewhat the same story. Sunderland started the season with a 2-0 away win at Cardiff and a 3-1 win followed in their next away game against Portsmouth. The two away games that followed have seen Sunderland lose 3-2 to Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth Argyle and 2-1 to Watford, though you could make that case that, even though Sunderland weren’t at their best in either of those games, they were unlucky to come away with a defeat in each. The loss to Plymouth came about from some poor defending for the first goal, a mistake from Dan Ballard which led to him giving away a penalty for the second, and once again poor defending for the third as Sunderland switched off in injury time allowing Argyle to win the game with minutes remaining. The Watford game was a similar story, poor defending allowed Watford to take the lead in the first half, and late on in the game Sunderland captain, Dan Neil, dove in with a needless tackle to give away a penalty.

Leeds, like Sunderland, are a club that you associate with the topflight of English football. It’s a club with a rich history that dominated domestically in the late 60s and early 70s, under club icon Don Revie, who had a spell during his playing days at Sunderland. Revie would leave the club in 1974 to take the England job, which would ultimately prove to be a disaster and be the beginning of the end of his career in football management. He was replaced by Brian Clough (who also had a spell as a player at Roker Park for Sunderland), which, just like Revie’s time at England, would end in disaster as he lasted just 44 days in the job before getting sacked. It would be a slippery slope thereafter for Leeds as they continued to finish in and around midtable before eventually being relegated to the Second Division in 1982.

The club would spend eight seasons there before eventually being promoted back to the First Division in 1990 under Howard Wilkinson. Two years later they would lift the First Division. Like Sunderland and the 1973 FA Cup, this would feel like the moment that Leeds would once again claim their place at the top of the food chain and be the best club in the country. However, the clubs would finish 17th the season after and would never reach the same heights again (though they would go on to play in the Champions League under David O’Leary in the 2000/2001 season). Wilkinson would be sacked by the club in 1996 and wouldn’t manage another club team until 2002 with nonother than Sunderland. Like the other two Leeds managers who had an affiliation with Sunderland however, this would end with his Sunderland side being relegated with a record low points tally at the time (which would then be beaten by Sunderland again three years later).

It isn’t the fact that Leeds never reached the same heights again though that is the clubs lowest point in recent history, far from it in fact. The club would be relegated from the Premier League in 2004 and face uncertainty about its future due to financial issues. Three years after their relegation to the Championship, one of England’s biggest clubs would hit their lowest ever point and finish bottom of the Championship meaning that that club would play int the third tier for the first ever time in its history. It wouldn’t be as simple as the fans would’ve hoped to get out of the division either and the club would suffer heartbreak in two separate playoff campaigns before eventually sealing promotion back to the Championship in 2010. The club would spend the next eight seasons finishing in various positions in the table and never quite managing to reach the playoffs. That would change in however in the 2018/2019 season. Leeds United announced that Marcelo Bielsa would be the clubs new manager and from that moment on, things changed. Leeds, though still in the second tier, became one of the most desirable teams to watch. Leeds would miss out on a playoff final place after defeat to Frank Lampard’s Derby County in their first season under Bielsa (a fixture that had created a rivalry between the two clubs earlier in the season after the spy gate scandal), but a year later, Leeds would win the Championship in a stylish and comfortable fashion, ending the season on 93 points. Leeds would then go on to finish in a respectable 9th place in the Premier League the following season, but a year later, the unthinkable would happen, Bielsa, the man who had brought back the good times to a club that hadn’t had much to shout about in the last twenty years, would be sacked in Febuary and replaced by Jesse Marsch. Leeds would end the season in 17th, just missing out on relegation by three points. They would not repeat that next season though and the club once again found themselves in the Championship. Daniel Farke would take over and Leeds would start the season well and after 38 games looked in pole position to finish at the very least in an automatic promotion place. Form would dip however and club would eventually finish in 3rd place, meaning they would have to go through the playoffs if they were to go up. They beat Norwich 4-0 over two legs in the semi final, but would then go on to lose 1-0 to Southampton in the final.

After losing in the playoff final to Southampton last season, the aim this season for Leeds would surely be to not have to be in a similar position again and to get back into the Premier League either by winning the league or finishing in second place and going up automatically. However, the summer transfer window didn’t promise much hope to the Leeds United fans, after losing Rutter to Brighton, and Summerville to West Ham. Some fresh faces have been brought into Elland Road though, but perhaps the best news from the summer window was the fact that Wilfried Gnonto committed his future to the club, signing a new four year deal.

Leeds started the season somewhat disappointing, as they were lucky to snatch a late equalizer at home to Portsmouth in a 3-3 draw. They would then go on to manage a 0-0 draw away at West Brom, before beating Sheffield Wednesday away from home 2-0, and then Hull City at home, also 2-0. They then lost 1-0 to Burnley at home, before beating Cardiff away from home in a 2-0, and making light work of Coventry at home in a 3-0 win. There last game saw them gain a respectable draw away at Norwich and leave them sitting 5th in the table.

This game, no doubt, is very much going to play a huge part in where both teams end up at the end of the season. It can’t not. It’s too big a fixture if we are to go on what the history of the sport tells us. There is also no doubt to believe that it should also be an interesting encounter if this seasons stats are anything to go on. Sunderland are ranked first for average goals scored per game, averaging two goals per game so far this season. Leeds aren’t too far behind them in fourth, averaging 1.6 goals per game. On the reverse side of that stat is the fact that both teams are in the top five ranked teams for least goals conceded, Sunderland averaging 0.8 per game and Leeds averaging 0.6. Both sides are also second for clean sheets, both joint on five. Where things might get interesting however is how clinical each side is. On average so far this season, Leeds have missed fifteen big chances, the most in highest in the division, whereas Sunderland have only missed eight, putting them in 15th place on that chart. Whatever happens at the Stadium of Light, is sure to play a huge part in both teams season and be a very small part of two clubs with a very rich history.