Sunderland’s Evolved Model – 43 Points and Rising

Sunderland chairman Kyril Louis-Dreyfus (centre) arriving before the Premier League match at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland. Picture date: Wednesday February 11, 2026. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images) | PA Images via Getty Images This season has been one of the most remarkable in my many decades of supporting Sunderland AFC.

We have been competitive in almost every game, have beaten some of the top teams and also Newcastle, so the transition from last season in the Championship to today in the Premier League has been truly remarkable. We now sit on 43 points, with 7 games to go. Despite some recent setbacks at the Stadium of Light that upset our unbeaten home record, away performances have picked up and we are now looking upwards towards the top section in the world’s most competitive football league.

The fear of failure is not haunting us, as in previous Premier League years, and we have matured hugely as a football club. Very importantly, we did the double over our Tyneside neighbours: this illustrated the level of self-confidence that the team is displaying at these special times. We had a raft of key players out through injury at St James’ Park on 22 March but still managed to come up with a second-half performance which simply blew our opponents away, and that 90th-minute winner from Brian Brobbey in front of the Sunderland fans will never be forgotten.

But is this more evolution than revolution? We have after all seemingly been following a carefully laid-out plan, devised several years ago, which has drawn attention from a lot of underperforming football clubs. It has been so successful that I would now define Sunderland as a previously underperforming football giant.