Things are going fairly well for Sunderland this season, to say the least. But, while promotion may still evade them this year, the approach from the owners is the right one, it seems.
Under the ownership of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, the situation at Sunderland has improved drastically since the days of Stewart Donald.
The Black Cats have returned to the second tier and firmly established themselves there. Now, they’re fighting for promotion under Regis Le Bris.
Whether Sunderland can achieve that now in the wake of the defeat to Leeds United on Monday night remains to be seen, but regardless, the club is moving in the right direction.
Sunderland have a long-term plan under Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, and it’s working
The ownership of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has been put under the microscope thanks to the folks at the Sunderland Echo, who spoke to finance expert Kieran Maguire about the strategy employed by the Sunderland owners over the last few years and where it could lead the Wearside club.
Maguire said: “It’s a horrible word to hear if you’re a football fan who wants your club to get promoted, that sensible makes sense. Look, I’m a Brighton fan. They had a long-term plan to get to the Premier League and it was gradual improvement season by season.
“Brentford did the same and those two clubs are probably now the poster boys for how effectively the clubs with a modest fan base — in terms of the ability to sell tickets — can get there and establish themselves.”
Of course, Sunderland can sell tickets for the Stadium of Light with ease, but regardless, Maguire is impressed with the way Louis-Dreyfus has been operating at the helm.
He added: “I think the Kyril Louis-Dreyfus approach appears to be adult. We want to be indulged as football fans. We want to set aside reality and live in a world of fancy football, but it doesn’t work.
“There have been many owners, some of whom may have been at Sunderland, who talk the talk but don’t walk the walk in terms of progressing the club. The scars of those years still remain.”
Maguire cites Stewart Donald’s lapse in judgement when sanctioning the £3m signing of Will Grigg back in 2019 as a major issue Sunderland now largely avoid.
“You’ve got to be professional when it comes to player recruitment. If you gamble and lose, it can be quite a significant setback for two or three years,” he said. “I think the approach which Sunderland appear to be taking is that we can’t be bigger, so therefore we’re going to be smarter.”
“If you have a culture, if you have a strategy and you stick to that, and sometimes people don’t want that because that involves long-term planning,” Maguire concluded.
Sunderland will get promoted, it’s just a matter of when not if
This season is far from over, and Sunderland can still certainly secure automatic promotion, but it won’t be easy. They’ll need to be near-flawless for the next 13 games and hope that the teams above them slip up massively.
There’s also no reason the play-offs can’t bear fruit for the Black Cats. They’ve already shown they can handle the likes of Burnley, Blackburn and West Brom this season, and with the following Sunderland bring to every game, you’d be foolish to bet against them in a one-off game.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  LeedsLeeds | 33 | 21 | 9 | 3 | 68 | 20 | 48 | 72 |
| 2 |  Sheff UtdSheffield Utd | 33 | 22 | 6 | 5 | 47 | 23 | 24 | 70 |
| 3 |  BurnleyBurnley | 33 | 17 | 14 | 2 | 39 | 9 | 30 | 65 |
| 4 |  SunderlandSunderland | 33 | 17 | 11 | 5 | 50 | 30 | 20 | 62 |
| 5 |  BlackburnBlackburn | 33 | 15 | 6 | 12 | 39 | 31 | 8 | 51 |
| 6 |  West BromWest Brom | 33 | 11 | 15 | 7 | 42 | 31 | 11 | 48 |
But, even if they fail to make it to the Premier League this season, the foundations are in place for long-term success at this club, without a doubt.
The Sunderland squad will likely get picked apart by bigger clubs in the summer if they do have to stay in the Championship. While the likes of Chris Rigg and Jobe Bellingham could be off, we already know the club will reinvest that money wisely and go again next season.
Fans will have to be patient with this process. But, in fairness, finishing in the play-offs this season was never even on the cards at the start of the campaign, so there’s rapid progress already taking place, brilliant players coming into the club, and a togetherness that will take them far.