To this day, if I focus strongly enough and cast my mind back to that infamous Saturday morning in August 2022, I can recall the hot surge of anger that coursed through me when it became obvious that Alex Neil’s future would not lie on Wearside and that our first Championship campaign in four years would ultimately be overseen by a new head coach.
Sunderland were due to play Norwich City in what felt like a tricky early-season test, yet after grumbling about how there were allegedly no more doors to knock on regarding potential signings, things subsequently moved rapidly for the Scot.
Stoke City pounced and Neil packed up his belongings and made a beeline for the Potteries, leaving a young team in the lurch, a fanbase shocked at the suddenness of his exit, Kristjaan Speakman seemingly indignant, and plenty of questions about what was coming next.
However, any anger I felt at the time was soon offset by what came next.
Indeed, for the ultimate counterpoint to the bitterness of Neil’s departure, I simply recall any one of countless memories that Tony Mowbray’s Sunderland side subsequently left us with: plenty of unforgettable games, a handful of exceptional goals and an against-the-odds playoff run that represented the pinnacle of the former Blackburn gaffer’s spell in charge at Sunderland.
“Fun” would be the one word I would use in relation to our class of 2022/2023.
It may be a stretch to claim that the style of play implemented by Mowbray — partly by choice and occasionally out of necessity — helped to lay the foundations for the regimented and highly complex style we now see under Régis Le Bris. Things have moved on at a hell of a rate during the intervening period, after all, and the stakes are far higher now.
On the other hand, it was a perfect fit; an entertaining and occasionally frustrating approach that saw Amad regularly running riot, Alex Pritchard, Dan Neil, Patrick Roberts and Jack Clarke taking flight, and perhaps most importantly, a restoration of the belief that we were truly going places once again.
Furthermore, it was under Mowbray that young players truly began to thrive at Sunderland, and that’s something we certainly see reflected in Le Bris’ team.
Of course, we tend to think of goals such as Clarke’s sumptuous finish at the end of a sublime team move against Reading when bringing to mind the best of ‘Moggaball’, but I also think of instances such as Edouard Michut’s display at home against Middlesbrough, Dennis Cirkin’s thrilling late winner at West Bromwich Albion, and an all-timer of a clash with Hull City at home.
After a memorable campaign, the way we sneaked into the top six in such nervy fashion, with the Lions doing us a favour by beating Blackburn and the Lads doing the business against Preston, felt fitting.
It wasn’t easy and it could’ve gone horribly wrong, but the players seemed to have little to no fear, so why not run with it? Four years of League One purgatory followed by some of the best football we’d seen in a long time? Sign me up.
These lads could play. Mowbray believed in them. There was conviction and talent in abundance, and after four years away, it would be no stretch to claim that we eventually became one of the most watchable sides in the division in 2022/2023.
Would it be harsh to claim that during this time, we were occasionally guilty of playing ‘vibes-based football’? Is that too harsh a label to affix to a system and a style of play that Mowbray always seemed proud to stand by and in which the players generally seemed to thrive?
OK, we didn’t always get it right, in both execution and outcome. I’ll be the first to concede that.
There was always the potential for a somewhat messy result (Stoke City at home, anyone? Ouch), and many of the players that arrived during this time didn’t make the impact we might’ve hoped for. But at the same time, we were trying to overhaul things on just about every level, and there was often mitigation for the inconsistency.
Who knows what might’ve happened if Ross Stewart’s final minutes in a Sunderland shirt weren’t spent on the turf at Craven Cottage and he’d had the chance to play alongside Joe Gelhardt, or how things might’ve looked if Everton hadn’t cut short a promising loan spell for Ellis Simms after a decent start to life in red and white for the big striker?
By the end of the season, injuries had decimated the defence to the point where Lynden Gooch was doubling up as a centre-back, yet we were one resilient display against Luton away from reaching the playoff final where, with key players available, I have no doubt we would’ve beaten Coventry and secured a return to the Premier League two years ahead of schedule. And do you know something? Who could’ve felt anything but pleased for Mowbray had that been the outcome?
If Clarke’s finishing touch at the end of a flowing sequence at the Madjeski Stadium was the first flash of what lay ahead under Mogga, the 5-0 demolition of Southampton just under a year later was the final flourish before we entered yet another period of uncertainty; a brief yet undeniably glorious period after so many years of utter garbage.
He was a classy, highly likeable head coach, and on his watch, we could generally rely on him to play classy, extremely entertaining football. Given where we were at the time, that was more than enough.
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