OTD: ELLIOT EMBLETON BORN

Born on this day in 1999 is Elliot Embleton. The midfielder came through the ranks of our academy and would go on to make 92 appearances for our senior team, finding the net 11 times. His most memorable moment in a Sunderland shirt came in the 2022 League One playoff final, when he scored the opening goal of a 2-0 victory at Wembley.

He joined the club as a six year old and was a Sunderland season ticket holder from a young age, with all of his family supporting the Lads. Though it seems like an era ago, Embleton was actually named on the bench six times during our ill-fated 2016–17 Premier League season, so he has been around the first team for a long time. He had to wait until our also-ill-fated Championship season to make his debut for the club, which came off the bench against Wolves.

Somehow we managed to take four points off the Championship winners that season, Embo was an injury time sub for Lynden Gooch, as we hung on to a 0-0 draw away from home. Lee Cattermole had been sent off around the hour mark, making the draw a hard-earned point in a season where points were at a premium for us.

Embleton also featured in the resounding victory in the reverse fixture over a likely hung-over Wolves, who were already crowned second tier champions. Again he came off the bench as we hammered them 3-0 in the last game of the season, in a game that proved that many of the useless first team squad could actually play football.

Embleton wasn’t one of the useless players that season and despite his restricted involvement, simultaneously, he was working his way up the age brackets with England’s youth set up, consistently scoring and playing well. He was a highly rated young footballer and he featured in the England U20 squad in the prestigious 2017 edition of the Toulon Tournament, scoring in the semi-final against Scotland and converting his penalty during the final of the competition as we beat the Ivory Coast 5-3 on penalties. A year later, Embleton was included in the England U19 squad for the 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship and continued his knack of scoring goals in tournaments with a cool finish against Turkey. With the national team, he rubbed shoulders with current senior players like Phil Foden, Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho.

Domestically, in 2018 Embleton found himself on loan at League Two Grimsby Town. He became a fixture for Grimsby and scored four goals in his initial loan, which was extended until the end of the 2018–19 season. It must’ve been torture for Embleton to play in black and white for Grimsby and personally, I would’ve also taken issue with having to advertise the subpar fish products that Young’s sell on my shirt front too. The Grimsby kit that season was an eyesore, but Embleton made it his own and did well at Blundell Park. After his loan, he returned to the more familiar red and white, but found opportunities somewhat hard to come by, only playing just over an hour of League One football for us.

After 11 appearances in all competitions for Sunderland in the 2020/21 season, approaching the end of the January transfer window in 2021, Embleton was loaned out to Blackpool who sat 15th in the table. What was the harm in sending a player out on loan to a team who weren’t a threat for promotion, especially considering he wasn’t playing week in week out? Embleton went on to be a vital part of Blackpool’s meteoric rise up the League One table and was instrumental in the Tangerines' promotion push. Like us, Blackpool sealed a play-off place. Unlike us, they got to the final. They did it with the help of Embleton, who scored a brilliant goal in the semi-final to help Blackpool get to Wembley. He played alongside future Sunderland players Ellis Simms (who netted a brace in the other leg of the semi final) and Dan Ballard (who notched an assist in the playoff semis), as well as ex-SAFC player Ethan Robson.

They won in the final so Embleton, a bit part player for us, had secured promotion to the Championship before us with essentially his first run of regular League One games. It was surreal to see one of our loan players promoted as we missed out, but the positive was that he came back to us a more confident player.

Embleton is a great passer, is technically very good and can use both feet. His semi-final goal for Blackpool was on one foot, his first goal at the Stadium of Light for us was from the other. Both were great strikes and his goal against Wycombe Wanderers won League One Goal of the Month for August 2021.

His goal, in front of his family and a crowd of just under 30,000, must've been a brilliant moment for Embleton. He was a key part of our promotion-winning squad, and a powerfully-struck effort in the play-off final is another goal he can add to his tally. He also scored winners against Portsmouth (in Lee Johnson's final game in charge of Sunderland at the SoL) and Oxford United. The latter of those two came virtually in the last minute in a key six-pointer for a playoff spot, sparking raucous scenes in the away end. These contributions, as well as good performances earned him our Young Player of the Year award.

In our first season back in the Championship, Embleton was regularly involved with the team during the first few months as he made 23 appearances, chipping in with two goals and two assists. Unfortunately, his season was ended in December after sufferring torn ankle ligaments in a game away to Hull City.

After recovering, he was sent out on loan to League One Derby County at the start of the 2023-24 season. He was starting to integrate more into his loan side but had a freak thigh injury in a training session and was ruled out of action until the start of the next season following just two games for his adoptive side.

In August 2024, Embleton returned to Blackpool. This brought an end to a 19-year-long playing association with Sunderland. The Tangerines were managed by Neil Critchley, who was in charge back when Embo had first joined the club on loan. Not even two weeks into his second stint as a Blackpool player though, Critchley was sacked and then not long after that replaced by Steve Bruce.

Probably not that fond of Bruce, Embleton left Blackpool for a second time in January 2025 to join Carlisle United. Carlisle have a number of former Sunderland men in their ranks, with the likes of, Dylan McGeouch, Jordan Jones, Stephen Wearne, Charlie Wyke, Joe Hugill and Ethan Robson.