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Sunderland’s return to Monday Night Football felt like a club, city and fanbase reborn under the lights
It felt like a return – not just to the top flight, but to relevance in the wider football landscape across the country. For the first time in years, Sunderland were back in the national conversation, beamed into pubs, living rooms and screens up and down the land.
It was great for millions across the country to hear the Stadium of Light rocking again – and this time, Sunderland were not disgraced. They showed character, resilience and the same steel that has defined their season so far, coming from behind once more to earn a result under pressure.
It was almost surreal after so long away from the big time to see Jamie Carragher analysing the role of Granit Xhaka at Sunderland – a sentence that would have sounded unthinkable just a couple of years ago. This wasn’t nostalgia or novelty; it was validation that Sunderland belong back at football’s top table.
Those four years in League One were brutal. There was a novelty to it at first – different grounds, new rivalries, something fresh. But that soon wore off. Sunderland became the big scalp, the club everyone wanted to slow down or frustrate. Time-wasting, poor pitches and endless trips south replaced any sense of romance.
It’s often said no club has a divine right to play Premier League football, and that is true, but Sunderland’s size, support and infrastructure made their absence from it feel wrong. Monday Night Football has become part of British football’s rhythm – a cultural touchstone that shapes the week. So seeing Sunderland under those lights again meant something, and it reminded everyone of the company this club historically belongs to.
It was Sunderland’s first appearance on a Monday night since September 2016, ironically against Everton. That night, Romelu Lukaku hit an 11-minute hat-trick at the Stadium of Light. That team, managed by David Moyes, featured Jordan Pickford, Jermain Defoe and Wahbi Khazri – a side caught in the chaos of the time, heading towards a spiral that took years to escape.
This time, it felt different. There’s a new identity, a new purpose and a fanbase that has never stopped believing. Régis Le Bris has given Sunderland a modern edge, and nights like these – on Sky, under the floodlights, with the football world watching – felt like a statement. A reminder that Sunderland are not just back in the Premier League. They’re back in the conversation.
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Sunderland came across superbly – as a club, as a city, as a team and as a fanbase. There was pride in every corner of the Stadium of Light and professionalism in every detail of the night. Owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus even provided a rare interview on Sky Sports to promote the club and its methods to the masses. Calm, confident and assured, he cut an impressive figure for a man still so young in relative terms. His words reflected a vision that has become clear to see on the pitch – ambition, patience and belief in the process.
The transformation has been remarkable. Sunderland now sit fourth in the Premier League with 18 points from their opening 10 games following promotion – a feat that would have sounded fanciful not long ago. They remain unbeaten at home in the league as November begins, the Stadium of Light once again a fortress. The situation on Wearside has come full circle from that harsh night nine years ago against Everton. Then, the club was staring into the abyss. Now, under the lights once more, it feels entirely different – brighter, bolder and filled with belief.
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