Sunderland have completed the double over their fiercest rivals for the first time since the 2014/15 campaign
In leading his team to their late win over Newcastle United at St James’ Park, Régis Le Bris wrote his name into Sunderland folklore and joined one of its most exclusive clubs.
He is now only the second manager in the 21st century to have completed the double over the club’s fiercest rivals, following Gus Poyet in 2013/14. He is only the fourth to do it since the second world war, with Ian McColl the last to achieve the feat before Poyet in the 1966-67 campaign.
While Poyet’s 3-0 win at St James’ Park perhaps stands out for the sheer level of dominance Sunderland enjoyed on that day, there is an argument that Le Bris’s double sits above it when you take the context of both wins into consideration. The disparity between the two clubs in squad costs is significantly greater than it was when they last locked horns regularly in the top tier, while to say Le Bris took a stretched squad up the road on Sunday would be an understatement. Had you told Sunderland supporters in the days that followed that win over Sheffield United at Wembley that they would do the double over Newcastle in the upcoming campaign, the reaction would have been somewhere between pleasant surprise and delirium. Had you told them in the days after Nick Woltemade’s own goal that they would win at St James’ Park later in the campaign without Robin Roefs, Nordi Mukiele, Dan Ballard and with Enzo Le Fée and Reinildo limited to a matter of minutes from the bench, delirium would have neared incredulity. Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães were undoubtedly important absentees for the hosts, and it has clearly been of some benefit to Sunderland that both games have been played in Champions League weeks, but none of that changed their status as clear underdogs away from home. It is a sensational achievement, and as good as guarantees that Le Bris’s second campaign will now be considered every bit as successful as his first. There has been some understandable frustration along the way but the fact is that Sunderland will now almost certainly become the first promoted side since Fulham in 2023 to secure survival (Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth would follow suit in the weeks that followed).
Perhaps we shouldn’t be all that surprised. If there are clear themes of Le Bris’s tenure as Sunderland head coach to date, then two are his ability to deliver in big games and to win just when the pressure is rising. Club insiders have long believed that this is no surprise or coincidence. For one, even if the team can struggle when the onus is on them to make the running, their out-of-possession structure has now over time proven to be repeatedly excellent. That is one part good coaching, and one part mentality. The latter is a reflection of Le Bris’s insistence on recruiting players who fit with the ‘underdog’ spirit he has fostered around the club, not just content but actively willing to spend long spells of games defending and putting their bodies on the line. It’s also a reflection of his unflappable demeanour, which is never more important than in big-game weeks. Insiders say Le Bris is exceptionally good at finding the balance between motivation and focus, which has been borne out time and time again since his arrival. Aside from a late defeat to Leeds United at Elland Road which all but ended the club’s hopes of automatic promotion, you could make a strong case to say this side have never lost under Le Bris when the stakes have been at their very highest.
Régis Le Bris is emerging as a great of the modern Sunderland era
The win over Newcastle came after Le Bris had faced perhaps his most sustained criticism since taking over in the summer of 2024, following an utterly abject FA Cup exit to Port Vale and a frustrating home defeat to Brighton. The club’s lengthy injury list meant this latest derby threatened to send Sunderland into a three-week break with an almighty hangover and plenty of recrimination, but has instead added another chapter to Le Bris’s growing legacy at the club.
He is now making a strong case to be seen as the club’s most influential manager of the modern era, a title previously held quite clearly by Peter Reid. Reid’s longevity and the heights his team scaled at the turn of the century means the title is still his, but what Le Bris has achieved is starting to warrant comparison. In winning a promotion without parachute payments (and from a very low ebb) and then all-but-achieving safety with seven games to go in an era when the gulf between the top two tiers has never been greater, he has produced one of the finest feats of modern management not just at Sunderland but anywhere outside the traditional big six. Along the way, he has delivered a double over Middlesbrough and then over the club’s biggest rivals: these are memories that will endure for years to come.
How Le Bris handles the next stage of Sunderland’s project will be fascinating, as expectation rises and his team need to add new layers to their game. How will they fare when they are no longer seen as the underdog week in, week out? Time will tell but right now, it’s also fairly irrelevant. What we can say with conviction is that Le Bris has laid the platform to potentially go one and be one of the club’s best ever bosses. Sunday’s comeback win was a reminder not just of what a remarkable journey this has been so far but also of the biggest achievement of all by Le Bris and his players: they have restored the club’s pride.
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