Two decades have passed since Division One, Two and Three were rebranded to the Championship, League One and League Two, which was done to raise the profile of the Football League. That certainly seems to have worked with the Championship commonly branded as one of the most entertaining leagues in the world where anyone can beat anyone. Sunderland were in fact the first team to win the second tier after the rebrand, so what was it like at the time?
The Black Cats were coming off the back of a tough couple of seasons. The 2002/03 season saw them relegated, finishing rock bottom of the top flight with just 19 points. This was the record lowest point total in Premier League history, a record they would hold for three seasons, before they would yet again break the points record, that time only managing 15 points. Under Mick McCarthy, they could only manage third in the 2003/04 season, in which their history of Play-off failure continued, with a penalty shootout defeat to Crystal Palace adding to their famous play-off final shootout loss against Charlton in 1998. This meant the 04/05 season was massive for Sunderland and McCarthy, and it was not a very rosy start, winning one of their first six. However, things quickly took a turn, and it led to the lads in Red and White writing their names into the history books, winning for the first time ‘The Championship’ not ‘The First Division’ with Sunderland finished the season on 94 points and seven points clear of Wigan Athletic in second place.
“They were not world beaters, but really good solid players”
McCarthy was likely used to not being backed with floods of cash during transfer windows, and that continued into the summer of 2004. They spent just £165,000, with a number of those signings being free transfers. Compare that to the £5.6 million rumoured to be spent by the current set up this summer and it shows not only how little McCarthy had been given, but the inflation in transfer fees. ALS editor and lifelong Sunderland fan Sobs told us they were bringing in players he “had not heard of to be honest with the likes of Dean Whitehead, Liam Lawrence, Stephen Elliott. They were not world beaters, but really good solid players in that division who did very well for us.” Sunderland’s Club Historian, Rob Mason added that “with all due respect, we weren't shopping at the top table and yet Mick moulded them into a team that obviously went on to be a very successful.” Elliott scored 15 goals in 42 Championship Games, with Lawrence getting seven goals and seven assists in 32. A signing that was not mentioned due to it being slightly later than the rest, was Danny Collins, who may not have set the world alight immediately, but over time became a shrewd bit of business, with his stay on Wearside lasting five years and being a key part of Sunderland’s promotion two seasons later in 2007. It was the same the season prior in which McCarthy proved he could work on a tight budget. Mason said that “the club had to sell as many players as they could, they sold Kevin Phillips, they sold Thomas Sorenson, they sold Gavin McCann, all the big names had gone.” He remembered the former Ireland manager being quizzed by the press on the departure of these players with the response along the lines of “they were so good they got relegated with 19 points.”
The name change felt “absolutely no different whatsoever”
The First Division was at one stage the peak of English Football, however when the Premier League came to be in 1992, it was suddenly demoted to the second tier. The entire league got a rebrand and a new sponsor in Coca-Cola. Football can be very traditionalist, and fans can sometimes struggle with change, for example a change to their club’s crest or even the recent changes made to the FA Cup with the scrapping of replays. Rob Mason argues that “it felt absolutely no different whatsoever. It was simply the league had changed its name, and I think now if you went back and asked more Sunderland supporters, what did you win in 2004/05 they say, well, the Championship. What if they said, what was that league called the year before? They would probably say the Championship. I don't think many people would take any notice.” Rob also spoke about Sunderland’s success in the 1890’s, with it also being the 130th anniversary of Sunderland being crowned World Champions in 1895. “It was the first time ever that the league champions of England and Scotland met in a game to decide the championship of the world. Now the League champions of England were Sunderland, and the league champions of Scotland were Hearts, and the game was played at Hearts’ ground, Tynecastle.” He added “In that particular game, Sunderland beat Hearts 5-3 and were proclaimed world champions.” Staying in the 1890s, Sunderland were in fact the last team to win the Football League Championship in 1892, before a Second Division was introduced and it became Division One and Division Two. Rob thinks that in theory “when Sunderland won the Championship in 2004/05, I like to argue that they were effectively retaining it.”
Footballs Evolution from 04/05 to 24/25
One thing that has had a notable impact on the game is the change in style of play. Modern football has been revolutionised by Pep Guardiola who has changed the way football is played not only in the Premier League but it is even seen by a number of sides in the Championship. A focus on playing it out from the back and finishing games with 60/70% possession has taken over the first tier. Sobs tells us that “It's only in the last couple of seasons that it's become the norm to play out from goal kicks with three players in the box. The Goalkeeper would get it, if you don’t get it 50 yards up the pitch it's a bad goal kick and that is probably the most noticeable thing that has changed.” When it comes to formations “nobody seems to play with two forwards anymore. There always seems to be one man up front and three behind. That seems to be the way things go now. The season before the Championship winning season, we had Marcus Stewart and Kevin Kyle. We lost Kyle early in the title winning season, so it was down to Stephan Elliott and Marcus Stewart, who were both forwards and good ones.” The game has evolved, some will argue for the better, a lot of people will argue for the worse.
“10,000 people” at Wigan and “Surviving the joys of Green Street”
Sobs has followed Sunderland home and away for many years and has seen the many ups and downs the club has had to offer. He recalled some of the highlights of the 04/05 season. “One game that really sticks out is the one down at Wigan were, I don’t know how many went for certain, but it was well in excess of 10,000 people who travelled down. I believe Liam Lawrence set up Marcus Stewart as the only goal of the game, and although it didn’t automatically get us promotion, we’ve played really well, we had half the ground, the crowd were really up for it and I just thought, you know what we are going to do this.” He also spoke on the moment Sunderland clinched the first ever Championship title. “We clinched the Championship down at West Ham on a Friday night, which made it a bit strange and a bit special as we were down there for the weekend. Even when we went behind, we did not get panicky, it just seemed to be an accepting one for our travelling fans, that’s alright we’ll get to it in the second half, which we did. Then it was a really good night having survived the joys of Green Street to get back to our hotel”.
Sunderland then lifted the title in front of 47,000 people at the Stadium of Light against Stoke to end their two-year absence from the Premier League. The excitement would be short lived when their first season back in the league ended in disaster, and a return to the Championship did not take long. 20 years on, Sunderland have been through a lot, League Cup finalists, back to back relegations, and play-off heartache, but now the club seem to be on the way up, with fans hopeful Regis Le Bris can follow in Mick McCarthy’s footsteps and guide them back to the top flight.
