Found in 1879, Sunderland are a club steeped in history, boasting 6 English top flight titles and 2 FA Cups. The last major trophy returned to Sunderland was the FA Cup in 1973. The club play at the 48,707 Stadium of Light, a stadium which has rarely if ever seen capacity since their relegation from the Premier League to the Championship in 2016/2017 season. Following a successive relegation, the club have found themselves playing in the third tier of English football since 2018.
Expectations
As you can see the board are expected a minimum requirement of reaching the play-offs. I can say now that anything short of automatic promotion is not good enough. This club needs to play at a higher level to increase the cash flow, which in turn will improve our ability to compete.
As for the cup competitions, I want to see us compete but until we are in the top flight I will never prioritise the cup over the league unless we have a comfortable cushion at the top.
From this page you can also see that we have a budget of £200k with a wage budget just under £13,000p/w. I have chose to sell clauses on both Josh Maja and Joe Hugill from Bordeaux and Man Utd respectively, raising a further £500k.
The Squad
Callum Doyle on loan from Man City is clearly a standout player in this squad and will play a pivotal defensive role at the centre of our defence. Players such as Luke O'Nien, Elliot Embleton, Niall Huggins and Dan Neil are all players im looking forward to managing as well.
All the over 28's are at risk. I always tend to have younger squads.
Next Post
1. Tactical Overview
Transfer Window
3. August
This is my first proper story that I've done so any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Being Scottish and a Celtic fan, with a relatively small transfer budget I looked north to try and sneak a few deals. John Souttar, Ryan Porteous, Lewis Ferguson, Calvin Ramsay, Josh Doig all refused to speak to us. We did manage to bring in two players from Scotland. One permanantly and one on loan, supplemented with another player coming down from the championship on a year long loan.
Dean Campbell joins us permanently from Aberdeen on a 3 year deal. Costing £230k with £730k in performance based clauses. At 20 years of age, he could be our first stalwart signing.
Stephen Welsh is having a phenominal year at Celtic irl. He is more than capable of playing at this level and will be our number 1 beside Callum Doyle after signing on a year long loan.
Liam Cullen has been brought in on loan to provide competition with Ross Stewart. I'm not thrilled with our striking options but we are limited in budget.
Outs
We have sold both Tom Flanagan and Bailey Wright for around £60k each to Dundee United and Sydney FC respectively. Both were Central Defenders on the wrong side of 28.
This is how we will line up going into matchday 1 (note that there is still a few weeks left in the window)
So the transfer window has slammed shut and we have made two further additions to the squad as well as two outs.
Delighted to bring in Arrey-Mbi and Pherai (18 & 20 y/o) to bolster the number of youngsters with high potential in the squad. Alves-Ibson was costing us £5k a week and wasn't close to the first team whilst Dan Neil asked to leave after Bologna put in multiple bids, sad to see him go.
August Fixtures
Sunderland - Rotherham (H)
Really strong performance from the boys here dominating Rotherham over 90 minutes. Could've easily been 3 or 4. Pritchard off the bench gave us a clinical edge in the second half.
Sunderland - Lincoln (A)
We actually played really well in this fixture, dominating the xG and possession stats. We simply couldn't finish to save ourselves and luckily enough we snuck through on penalties.
Sunderland - Lincoln (A)
This match constituted the definition of getting FM'd. We had xG of 2.21 to their 0.44 and possession split of 70/30 in our favour. This game was the one that convinced me to go in for Pherai to give us another creative player to help unlock defences.
Sunderland - Burton (H)
Absolutely no justifying this one. This was utterly pathetic all round.
Sunderland - Rochdale (A)
And just like that. we're out the Carabao Cup to a side from the division below. I said at the start of the season that I would happily rest the squad in cup fixtures but this beyond a step too far. Worst thing about it is that they deserved it.
Sunderland - Portsmouth (H)
That's much more like it. Two first half goals from O' Brien and Embleton ensured we brought our poor run of form to an end and made it 6 points from a possible 12 in the league.
Sunderland - Manchester United U23's (H)
We rested players, they played Sancho. Sure, well done lads. Might be an ignorant Scotsman but who actually cares about this cup?
So that was August! Surely September can't go any worse?
I'll begin posting the league table from the next post once we are a few more games in. For reference, we're 10th right now
After we went 1-0, I was starting to worry about the longevity of this save with the board already on a C-. Thankfully the team talk done the magic and we dominated the second half, with a significant improvement in the final third.
Sunderland - Morcambe (H)
Ross Stewart is quickly becoming the main man in this side, scoring a hattrick in an otherwise woeful performance (for the team as a whole) to ensure we didn't drop points we simply couldn't afford to drop.
Sunderland - Wycombe (A)
Ross Stewart chips in with yet another goal but this time it isn't enough to spare our blushes as Wycombe score in the 92nd minute to beat us, despite us playing our best performance of the season statistically.
Sunderland - Doncaster (H)
I mean. we didn't lose. Not happy as we squander a 2 goal lead at home to Doncaster.
Summary
We sit in 9th after 8 matches which isn't great but isn't the end of the world. Performances have certainly improved and with Stewart banging them in, the sky is the limit. Hopefully we can continue improving going into October.
October was a busy month featuring a total of 8 competitive games, several takeover rumours, injuries and our lowest low of the season.
Fixtures
Sunderland - Cambridge United (H)
The month started with an extremely strong result backed by a decent performance. The score line is almost certainly flattering us but three goals in the first-half secured the three points for the Black Cats.
Sunderland - Bradford (H)
Another game in this monstrosity of a tournament sees a drastically rested team brush by Bradford in what was a game of two-halves. We were 1-0 at HT and only after Stewart came off the bench did we look capable of winning.
Sunderland - Cheltenham (H)
Back in league action and we make it three consecutive competitive wins for the first time this season. We played well throughout, dominating possession and chance creation and thoroughly deserved our three points in this match.
Sunderland - Crewe (H)
I'm speechless. It was all coming together and the we decided to let Crewe embarrass us at home. Not happy at all but they deserved everything they got.
Sunderland - Fleetwood (A)
Back to winning ways, just. If it wasn't for a 92nd minute consolation then this would have looked like it felt in reality. A comfortable performance and a deserved three points following two close range finishes from Gooch.
Sunderland - Wigan (A)
Everything we lacked against Crewe, we had in this game. We didn't play well in this game and probably deserved to lose but we stuck in and fought, kept it competitive and got rewarded in the 79th minute when McGeady was brought down in the box, allowing Pritchard to slot home for three points.
Sunderland - MK Dons (H)
Once again we have to show some character to come from behind against an MK Dons side we really had to beat. Another penalty sees us equalise before Embleton possibly scored goal of the season with a bullet from the edge of the box.
Sunderland - Plymouth (H)
Our final game of October is probably our most comfortable. 2-0 going on 7 or 8. Pherai has been phenomenal since joining from Dortmund and got his rewards to put us ahead in this one.
League Table
A very strong October minus our mess against Crewe sees us shoot up the league table to a respectable third. Can the climb continue? Can Ross Stewart keep up this legendary form? Time will tell.
Another 8 competitive matches this month including the FA Cup first round. With us closing October with four wins on the bounce I was hoping that despite the fixture list and the demands out on our squad, that we’d be able to keep up that form and mount a serious challenge on Ipswich at the top of the table.
Fixtures
Sunderland - Shrewsbury (A)
We went into this game knowing that it was a must win given that at the time Shrewbury were on a really poor run of form. After going 1-0 down in the 14th minute to a Leshabela goal, a Ross Stewart hat-trick aided by a red card for our opponents allowed us to again come from behind to claim a crucial three points.
Sunderland - Burton (A)
If there’s one cup competition I do care about it is certainly the FA Cup. So when we drew away to league rivals Burton I was frustrated given how we had dominated the match. Another fixture added to an already busy November. The biggest concern however was that Ross Stewart went down injured in the second half and had to come off.
Injury Crisis
Stewart, Huggins, McGeady and O'Brien all out just highlights the quality we are missing right now. Will be interesting to see how a side that already has issues with depth copes.
Sunderland - Lincoln (A)
Due to injuries and international duty, as well as my strong dislike for this tournament; I named a matchday 18 with 8 debutants along with those elder fringe players. It went as well as could be expected.
Sunderland - Gillingham (A)
A fourth away game in succession sees us return to winning ways with a rout over Gillingham. A brace from Liam Cullen and goals from Pritchard and Arrey-Mbi sealed a dominant victory at the Priestfield Stadium. 6 consecutive league wins on the bounce now.
Sunderland - Burton (H)
A game we didn’t need. We somehow managed to fight on in the FA Cup after a first half Liam Cullen strike gave us the lead. The lack of depth in our squad is starting to show with 5 u18s on the bench in this match. This is a concern as there is over 6 weeks till the January window opens.
Sunderland - Oxford (H)
Despite another goal from Cullen, who is replacing Stewart excellently; we couldn’t manage another win ending our winning run in the league. Normally I would be furious with this result but the lack of fit players means that we, again were significantly weaker than full strength.
Sunderland - Accrington (H)
This game was a real slog and we only really came to life following a red card for Accrington’s Harry Pell in the 61st minute. Goals following from Broadhead and Gooch confirmed a very forgettable win for the Black Cats.
Sunderland - Sheffield Wednesday (A)
Another defeat. We played fairly well but as our team tired once again we had very little quality from the bench and it showed as our defence collapsed in the last 15 minutes going from 2-1 up to 3-2 down.
Summary
This month was hit and miss. We started well but lost so many players as a result of int’ duty and injuries which rendered our squad far below par in terms of quality. As someone who hasn’t managed in England for multiple FM’s now, I certainly underestimated the demands on players that comes with longer seasons, no winter breaks and ridiculous slot filling tournaments.
The important thing is that we remain competitive at the top. We play Ipswich in December so things could get interesting...
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