EVERYONE enjoyed the Netflix documentary about Sunderland, but it painted the club in a terrible light.
They were a club to be messed about with. A club to take the p*** out of. A joke, really, which is awful for a club of their unbelievable history and stature.
So it’s great to see how they’ve got out of that negative spiral.
I’ve got a young player up there, Tom Lavery, and everything I’ve seen from them suggests that they are a club with a clear plan, who do things the right way and have a stream of young players coming through.
Regis Le Bris’ side are fourth in the Championship and, for my money, I think they will comfortably make the play-off final.
On paper, a game against Leeds, Burnley or Sheffield United would be very tough. But it’s all about who turns up at that stage.
I played in one playoff final, for Torquay against Stevenage in 2011.
Realistically, we should have won that game because we were in decent form and -in my opinion -had better players.
But the occasion took hold of a young side, our manager made some questionable decisions and we ended up losing to an experienced team who handled the day better than us.
If Sunderland can avoid injuries to key players and maintain their momentum ahead of the play-offs, I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t win promotion at the end of the season.
Cardiff City
Omer Riza is proud of his Cardiff City troops
Championship
OLIVER’S SET FOR BIG STEP
