On the banks of the River Wear, in a bar in the Stadium of Light named after Niall Quinn, a question vexes Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray.
When you were last season’s Championship overachievers, what do you do for a second act?
A leaner, meaner, smarter version of the Black Cats than the one that tumbled out of the Premier League and into League One were the surprise package of the Championship last season. Their run to the play-offs bucked expectation and was an enjoyable ride for supporters but Mowbray knows the landscape has changed.
“On the back of last season I think there’s an expectation – every supporter I meet, the first question they ask me is ‘Are we getting promoted this year?’” he says.
“But I think the league genuinely is stronger with Leicester, Southampton, Leeds, but even Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday are huge clubs with huge fanbases, never mind Middlesbrough, Norwich, Watford and West Brom.
“It’s a tough league, hugely competitive. And we have to be ready. We understand the expectation.”
They have lost last season’s loan star Amad Diallo, who is on the fringes of the first team at Manchester United.
“Amad Diallo was a huge player for us last year, or grew into one,” he said.
“He’ll be a miss, although we’ve signed Bradley Dack and he has flashes of brilliance, touches of brilliance.
“Watching him training on Wednesday, his inter-passing with Patrick Roberts, some of it was as special as last year’s was.”
The summer has not been without its anxieties. Star prospect Jack Clarke has been the subject of several bids from Burnley, all rejected. Patrick Roberts is into the final year of his contract as is Ross Stewart, the club’s most potent goalscorer. Injured until the end of September, Mowbray believes a fine start to the season is the best hope of persuading him to sign a long-term contract.
There has been talk of Southampton being keen on him. Last year Middlesbrough were weighing up a bid but Mowbray says the phone “has not been ringing”.
“He understands the situation, he’s a bright man,” Mowbray says.
“He understands his worth – you could say he’s only played 13 times in the Championship in his whole career, so how do we know he can do it? Well, he scored 10 goals in those games. He’s big, he’s physical, lean, direct, scores headers, gets in behind, scores tap-ins, he’s always between the sticks, he’s a really good footballer.
“Utopia would be that he signs a long-term contract and he stays – we’re sitting here in Quinn’s Bar – and we could have the Stewart Bar somewhere down the line.”
Much has been made of Sunderland’s relative youth and it is a measure of their faith in young players that the highly-regarded England youth international Chris Rigg, who only turned 16 in June, will be part of the first team group this season.
Alongside him will be the summer signing from Birmingham City Jobe Bellingham, brother of Jude and just 17 himself.
Up front the star of pre-season has been Luis Semedo, known as Hemir, who signed from Benfica B in June. He has four goals in four pre-season games but is just 19 himself and has no experience in senior football.
Is it a help or hindrance? It depends how you look at it but Sunderland’s big bet is that a core of battle-hardened players, including last season’s fans player of the year Danny Batth, will again dovetail successfully with the colts around them.
“There’s no fear with us. You saw with us [last season], despite all the injuries the team kicked on and excelled,” says academy graduate goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, now a relative veteran at the age of 23.
Patterson is a former alumni of the Wallsend Boys Academy, a lone Sunderland fan among schoolfriends who all supported city rivals Newcastle United. He is big, laid-back and projects the sort of quiet confidence that a goalkeeper needs.
As a kid in the academy he trained alongside a young Jordan Pickford, taking his hand-me-down gloves and absorbing advice from a player who has gone onto become England’s undisputed number one. It is a career path, he says, “he wouldn’t mind following”.
Despite the signing of United youngster Nathan Bishop this week he will start on Sunday against Ipswich Town as the club’s number one. He, like the club, is ready to embrace expectation.
“Last year was a season that no-one really expected us to do so well but it was a great honour to be part of that team,” he says.
“Ultimately we were disappointed by the way it ended but we’re ready to go again.”
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