Beers, cheers and football peers in the year of the underdog | OneFootball

Well done, Sunderland. Congratulations on returning to the Premier League, a remarkable achievement for a team lacking top-quality players.

You’ve been away since the end of the 2016-17 campaign.

A year after that relegation, you sank into the third tier of domestic football and spent four seasons at a level Newcastle United have never known.

Yesterday’s win in the play-off final was unexpected and doubtless all the sweeter for that, especially after you were outplayed in the first half. Losing the vastly experienced O’Nien in the opening exchanges was a severe blow you did well to survive. Trailing by only one goal at half-time was in some ways a bonus.

Despite what the incompetent Sky commentators said, the contest was quite different after the interval. Sheffield United seemed content to sit back, let you have the ball and rely on the odd swift break to confirm their superiority.

The safety-first plan would have worked if the Blades had taken their few chances. Or if Patterson had not made a second excellent save. They didn’t and he did.

The match was already swinging your way when Hamer, the best outfield player by a distance, was replaced in the 72nd minute. Four minutes later, Mayenda smashed in the equaliser.

I saw the drama unfold with two mates from my bowling club, lifelong Crystal Palace supporter Ray and veteran Sunderland fan Les.

Only two of us were sporting club colours, as supporters of underdogs who had won cup finals this season. Only two of us thought you would triumph. Only two of us saw the late, late winner hit the back of the net.

By the time Brighton-bound Watson struck the decisive blow, Les was paying the price for one too many beers…

The bemused look on his face when he returned from the loo and saw the scoreline was priceless. That stunned expression of disbelief so difficult to shift. It was still there when his heroes climbed the Wembley steps to collect their medals and lift the trophy.

The three amigos at Ray’s palace

The shame is, he’s already dreading what might happen next season. He fears another episode of men against boys, though one far more painful and prolonged than the FA Cup tie in January last year.

Of the starting line-up yesterday, only O’Nien was aged over 25. Until Mepham replaced him, your team had literally no Premier League experience on the field. Not that Sheffield United benefited much from their total of 294 top-flight appearances.

Les knows Sunderland are ill-equipped to survive at the big boys’ table. Will you spend a few million? Will you spend it wisely? Will a certain Mr Henderson, who was watching at Wembley yesterday, return to the Stadium of Light? Or will your better players decide, like Watson, the grass is greener elsewhere?

Time will tell. Tomorrow can wait. For now, I hope you enjoy the special feeling of a Wembley triumph.

The Tyne-Wear derby is back on the agenda. Those two Premier League clashes will probably be the highlights (or lowlights) of your season. While I welcome the resumption of local hostilities, my team have slightly loftier ambitions, which I emphasised yesterday by transporting the donated beers in a stylish canvas bag acquired in Dortmund 18 months ago. Something I happened to mention as Les and I left the party.

Sport at its best is a story of victory against the odds. That is your story this season, just as it is ours, just as it is Palace’s. I don’t want to see the same old, same old hogging all the trophies. The Salfords, at least, seem to be on-message.

You’ll discover the Premier League landscape has changed since your most recent visit. The so-called Big Six, a media invention, exists only in the accountants’ department. Sadly, funny money counts for an awful lot more than it once did.

While the top tier of domestic football is far from being a level playing field, each of the 20 clubs will be peers, at least in theory, when battle resumes in mid-August. That’s less than two weeks before the draw is made for the first stage of the 2025-26 Champions League.