After a difficult 12 months, there are rays of light for Sunderland

These are embryonic days of the new season, when hope and optimism know no bounds and everything seems possible, but you can see why the supporters of Sunderland feel something exciting is stirring.

After a troubling 12 months, in which three different managers lost their jobs, starting with the dismissal of the hugely popular Tony Mowbray back in December, followed by the hapless Michael Beale in February and then caretaker manager Mike Dodds at the end of the campaign, Sunderland have started life under new manager Regis Le Bris well.

There were more than 40,000 supporters at the Stadium of Light to watch their side dismantle Sheffield Wednesday last weekend, a rampaging, high energy, all action display that unleashed a thrilling young side on the Championship.

“I’m more excited about the manner of the win than the result,” said Michael Graham, of Sunderland Nation. “I’ve never seen Sunderland as aggressive.

“One of the biggest complaints we’ve had is that Sunderland have been too passive at home, but this team almost took it personally when Sheffield Wednesday had the ball. That was something I’ve not seen from a Sunderland side since the Peter Reid days.”

Given Reid took Sunderland into the Premier League twice in the late 1990s and secured two seventh place finishes in the top flight in the early 2000s, you can understand why this sort of praise resonates.

At the vanguard of this swaggering display of youthful endeavour and skill was the 17-year-old Academy graduate Chris Rigg (given his first team debut aged just 15 by Mowbray), the 22-year Dan Neil and the 18-year-old Jobe Bellingham, (younger brother of England and Real Madrid star Jude) who agreed a new long term contract over the summer.

At the back, Luke O’Nien was magnificent, as was winger Jack Clarke and former Manchester City prospect Patrick Roberts. Sheffield Wednesday were blown apart. Coming a week after the opening 2-0 away win over Cardiff City, it has lit the fuse on Wearside. It looked like a team worth getting behind and the noise inside the stadium articulated that point.

“They are a very, very young team and that still concerns me a little bit,” said former Sunderland captain and BBC Newcastle pundit Gary Bennett. “It will be interesting to see how long they can maintain this but we have one or two promising young players who have been fantastic.

“Chris Rigg at 17, is very, very good. You see him in games, he’s got everything. I don’t think there is a player of his age, in the Premier League or the Championship, doing what he is doing.

“He is a complete midfield player. For his size he is strong, he can look after himself. But it is his composure, the way he uses the ball, knowing when to pass, he has got it all.

“He’s only going to get better, you can understand why everyone is looking at him. He’s one of the best young players I’ve ever seen come through at Sunderland and I’ve seen plenty. He’s special.”

Bellingham has returned a man and Rigg is a Keane/Robson hybrid

There have been widespread claims on social media that Rigg is a boyhood Newcastle fan and Sunderland’s neighbours have certainly been keeping a close eye on his rapid development, but like Bellingham he recently signed a new contract.

“I wouldn’t like to say [if he is a Newcastle fan] and I don’t think he likes to say either,” added Bennett. “It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t affect him, he’s been at Sunderland since he was a kid and he loves playing for the club. He’s got no fear, he looks like he has been playing first team football for years.”

For the supporters, Rigg and Bellingham have set the pulses racing and rightly so. “Bellingham looks like he has gone away this summer and turned from a boy into a man,” explained Graham.

“He has learnt a lot from his first season and people probably forget how young he is and it’s unfair to compare him to his brother. He looks so much stronger and more athletic this season than he did. He has developed and the way he played on Saturday he looked like a senior pro.

“As for Chris Rigg, the potential is frightening. We saw Jordan Henderson come through at Sunderland, and he never reached a level of performance, in terms of his all round game, that Rigg has already hit.

“There is a little bit of Roy Keane about him without the ball and there is a little bit of Bryan Robson too in terms of how all action he is. There is so much quality. I’ve seen three or four local lads come through at Sunderland and the potential, the raw ability he has, Chris Rigg is streets ahead of all of them.”

Sunderland were tipped by some to battle against relegation, the miserable form they offered over the second half of last season, combined with the simmering frustration of a fanbase that has spent far too long being told to be patient since their relegation from the Premier League in 2017 (and subsequent drop into League One the following year) to be comforted by talk of clever recruitment models and long term plans.

Beale ‘at odds’ with fans from the start

For five months, last season was a write off. There was no evidence of any plan worth getting behind, just a long and tedious plod towards the last game of the season. Sunderland won four games between Jan 2 and May 4.

Yet, despite the misgivings and the growing pressure on owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, something has emerged from a difficult and challenging summer that bodes well.

Having initially attracted criticism for their lengthy search for a new head coach – and having been rejected by their first choice Will Still – Sunderland have appointed a bold Frenchman in the form of Le Bris, who was regarded as one of the most talented young managers on the other side of the English channel because of his superb work with Lorient.

“When Micheal Beale came and almost said to the fans I’m going to teach you all about football,” explained Graham. “He was at odds with fans almost immediately because of that, he knew best. There have been others like that.

“Whereas, Le Bris has come in and said I want to utilise the fans. How can I get the fans engaged? As we know with the North East football clubs that is the secret. It’s something [Eddie] Howe has done up the road, they [Newcastle] are one of the most impressive high-energy press teams I’ve seen and the same thing will work here.”

For a former player like Bennett, Le Bris has also been a reassuring appointment. “He’s very calm on the touchline, studious,” he added. “He just stands there watching and analysing the games, he’s not shouting and raving.

“Even though Sunderland have won two games, he is always looking at things to improve on. He’s almost more interested in the things the team hasn’t done well as he wants to go away and work on them. It’s been a very impressive start for him. He has just quietly got on with the job and you can see the impact he has had on the players in pre-season. There is so much energy in the side.”

‘Clarke is almost too good for this level’

As ever, with Sunderland, there are caveats even in his heady early days. There is speculation about Clarke’s future and the club have placed a £25 million price tag on his head. There will be a nervous wait until the transfer window closes to see if he stays.

“He is almost too good for this level now,” said Graham. “We really want him to stay, but if the asking price is met, I think he will go. It would almost be cruel to prevent him going because he is that good.”

Bennett, though, believes Clarke should stay put, at least for one more season. “He’s happy here, he has the respect of the players, he is loved by the fans.

“Will he start every week if he goes to a Premier League club? Will he feel like he belongs like he does at Sunderland?

“He’s one of those players, you know what he is going to do, but at this level at least you still can’t stop him.”

The search for a much-needed striker

Sunderland, though, still need a new centre-forward. They are believed to be closing in on the signing of striker Alexandre Mendy from Caen, which would end a long wait for a proper centre-forward to replace Ross Stewart who was sold to Southampton last year.

The 30-year-old has been prolific in the second tier of French football and it is a position Sunderland must fill if they are going to have any chance of promotion. The club are also pushing to sign another striker Wilson Isidor on loan from Lokomotiv Moscow.

“They’ve got to sign a striker, “ said Bennett. “They really need two. If you’re going to have a successful season in the Championship you need a goalscorer.

“You’re not always going to blow teams away like they did against Sheffield Wednesday. There will be tight games where you need someone to just put the ball in the back of the net, take a half-chance or score something out of nothing.

“Hopefully he will be that player, but you never know how long it is going to take a player from abroad to get up to speed in English football. That’s my one concern.”

For supporters, though, they are daring to dream. “I think this team is good enough to go up, “ enthused Graham. “Probably not in the top two, but the play-offs are there for us.

“If the team we had under Tony Mowbray could finish sixth, this is a better team than that. The young players we had then are more experienced, they are 22 and 23 now. Then we have Rigg and Bellingham now too.

“If we can sign Mendy, there will be excitement. I know there are question marks, he is 30-years-old, is he a late bloomer or was it a flash in the pan?

“He is experienced, which is what we have wanted. He has scored a lot of goals in the second tier in France. I think this is probably a higher standard than that, but he is the player we have waited four transfer windows to sign.”