The memory of Sunderland earning promotion from League One will live on for a long time. Now though, fans are eyeing up the big time.
Sunderland spent four long years playing in League One. The club suffered back-to-back relegations which landed them in the third tier but now times are much brighter, with owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus at the helm, Kristjaan Speakman working the transfer market, Regis Le Bris in the dugout.
The Black Cats sit in 4th place of the Championship table following their impressive 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday last time out. Although now eight points outside the top two, Sunderland have a 13 point cushion within the top six.
This 2024/25 season could end in pain or glory for Sunderland. But whatever the outcome, this season will mark another huge step forwards for the club, who only earned promotion from League One three years ago.
Much has changed since then, but a lot of the players remain from that team. One who doesn’t however is Elliot Embleton.
Elliot Embleton’s difficult journey since play-off glory with Sunderland
One of the many Sunderland academy products who came into the first-team, but ultimately couldn’t make a lasting impression is Embleton. The Durham-born midfielder spent 12 years in the Sunderland academy and eventually made 92 appearances for the Black Cats’ senior team, scoring 11 goals.
And one of his goals came in the League One play-off final. The following season he made 23 Championship appearances before injury took over, and now he’s playing in League Two.
Embleton featured once during a season-long loan spell with Derby County in 2023/24 owing to injury, then sealing a permanent move to Blackpool last summer before leaving them for Carlisle United in League Two earlier this season.
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Elliot Embleton’s stats for Carlisle United in 2024/25 so far
Carlisle United signed Embleton from Blackpool for an undisclosed fee at the start of the January transfer window, in what seemed like a bit of a shock move.
He wanted regular game time though, and he’s certainly getting that now. So far this season the 25-year-old midfielder has featured 11 times in League Two with Carlisle United, claiming two assists as well.
But it’s not been enough to lift Carlisle out of the drop zone. In fact, the club sits in dead last of the League Two table and are currently nine points adrift with 12 games left to play, with a miracle needed to drag the U’s out of the bottom three before the end of the campaign.
If Embleton can impress though, he could earn another move in the summer, possibly keeping himself in the Football League.