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I always find it strange to look back at the fall of the Peter Reid era. There are many points where people can point to and say that was the transfer, game, or period where it all started to crumble, but the game that took place on this day in 2001 did well to paper over the cracks and allowed us to believe.
Looking back to January 13th 2001, we had comfortably beaten Harry Redknapp’s West Ham United at Upton Park - through goals from Stanislav Varga and Don Hutchison - to put us second in the Premier League table, two points ahead of Arsenal and a mere eleven behind Manchester United.
After that, we won only three of the remaining fifteen league games - as well as being knocked out of the FA Cup by West Ham in the fifth round when a cup run looked a distinct possibility - and we finished seventh for a second season in a row, with both of those following very similar patterns of dropping off.
Signs were there that the side required surgery. Niall Quinn was hanging on to top-flight football; his time was sadly coming to an end, and Kevin Phillips needed to find a new partner on the back of scoring 14 goals.
Goals had been an issue, with 46 scored all season - just 22 fewer than Chelsea, who finished one place and four points above us in sixth and only five more than Manchester City, who occupied the third relegation spot. It was our defensive record that was the primary reason for our lofty position, with only the top three - Manchester United, Arsenal, and Liverpool - conceding fewer.
To remedy that, Peter Reid brought in former French international Lilian Laslandes from Bordeaux in France for around £3.6m, and there was initial optimism that at just over six feet tall, he might have been a decent foil for Phillips.
Another £3.5m was dished out and what was hoped to be another Julio Arca in the form of Nicholas Medina from Argentinos Juniors, a further £750,000 on Swiss international full-back Bernt Haas, and the exciting teenage prospect David Bellion arrived on a Bosman from Cannes.
There had been no major departures, with Don Hutchison not officially leaving for West Ham until the 30th August, so to kick off the season, the squad was, in theory, that little bit stronger with almost £10m spent.
We kicked off the campaign with another surprise package from the season before as we hosted George Burley’s Ipswich Town. The season before had seen them finish fifth, and future Sunderland striker Marcus Stewart had banged in the goals to fire them there.
This meant they would be playing European football in the old (and better…) UEFA Cup, so they made a couple of big-money signings in Matteo Sereni for £5m from Sampdoria and former Nigerian World Cup star Finidi George from Mallorca for around £3m - both of whom would make their debuts against the Lads.
In the build-up to the season, Matt Hughes wrote his predictions on all twenty Premier League clubs for the season ahead and predicted we’d finish 8th after presuming we’d done some decent business:
> Their prospects should be strengthened considerably by their new signings: Lilian Laslandes, who stands at a chunky 6ft 1ins, has a decent scoring record, with 104 goals in 277 appearances. Argentine teenage midfielder Nicola Medina will add some guile to an impressive midfield line which already boasts Gavin McCann, Don Hutchinson, Stefan Schwartz and Julio Arca. And pacy French youngster David Bellion, just 18, could be one of the surprises of this year’s Premiership.
>
> This is clearly Reid’s strongest squad that’s he had during his time at Sunderland - so don’t expect a mirror image of the past two seasons: challenging for the top honours at the turn of the year yet out of the places come May.
The Lads got off to a bright start in the early exchanges, and Laslandes should have given Sunderland the lead after around twenty minutes on the clock when he managed to steer a header wide from an Arca free-kick. Around five minutes before half-time, the pressure paid off when a clumsy challenge from future Sunderland defender Titus Bramble, who was also joined in the Ipswich ranks by Chris Makin, on Gavin McCann resulted in Graham Poll pointing to the spot.
Phillips made no mistake from the spot, sending Sereni in the wrong direction and getting off the mark for the season.
In the second half, Ipswich rallied after some choice words from Burley, no doubt, but Thomas Sorensen pulled off several saves to make sure Sunderland claimed all three points to kick off the new season.
> **Sunderland:** Sorensen, Haas, Craddock, Thome, Gray, Kilbane, McCann, Schwarz, Arca (Rae), Laslandes (Quinn), Phillips **Substitute not used:** Macho, McCartney, Bellion
>
> **ipswich Town:** Sereni, Makin, Bramble, McGreal (Clapham), Hreidarsson, George, Magilton, Holland (Counago), Wright, Reuser, Stewart **Substitute not used:** Branagan, Wilnis, Naylor
>
> **Attendance:** 29,578
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