STADIUM OF LIGHT – Stop the count and dump the ballot box. If anyone but Regis Le Bris wins the Premier League manager of the year award it will be a travesty.
Others may have lifted the silverware this season, but the Sunderland head coach has masterminded a campaign for the ages at the Stadium of Light. A superb win over an abject Chelsea stamped the Black Cats’ passport into the Europa League, and with it the first European campaign for 53 years for a fanbase who have grown in belief over their best season for a generation.
The scale of the achiement is stupendous. This defeat of Chelsea arrived exactly a year to the day since Le Bris helped them clamber out of the Championship via the play-offs. Four years and five days ago they beat Wycombe Wanderers to seal promotion from League One. It is some story.
Before the season they were tipped by many to go down but Le Bris – backed by the most imaginative response to promotion in recent history – has turned those fears into tears of joy. They haven’t just survived, they have thrived and torn up the narrative that the Premier League is an experience to be endured after achieving promotion.
For the wider game – and with apologies to those in Teesside and Tyneside who will be casting envious glances at this European qualification party – it is a timely and terrific reminder that the sport does not belong to the timid. In 2025 all three teams went down with Ipswich Town basically recruiting a team of Championship all-stars to make sure they bounced straight back up. There were grim warnings about the top tier becoming a closed shop.
"What a finish" Hume gives Sunderland a deserved lead at the Stadium of Light! pic.twitter.com/vMlXnH4hDf
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 24, 2026Sunderland went a different route, signing young talent like Noah Sadiki, Robin Roefs and Nordi Mukiele before pushing the boat out to persuade Granit Xhaka that something was stirring on Wearside. It has been an irresistible mix and put to shame the record of Newcastle and Sunday’s opponents Chelsea, who spent big but shrunk.
Sunday brought the brilliant denouement of such a daring strategy. They bullied the Blues, barely giving them a kick in a first half in which Trai Hume volleyed them deservedly in front. Malo Gusto diverted a second past Robert Sanchez – via Brian Brobbey’s shot – and even when Cole Palmer threatened to spoil the celebration they had enough.
Le Bris, who has brought all this together with the understated manner of his hero Arsene Wenger, was typically modest afterwards. It was “top of his managerial CV but of particular pride because of what it meant to the city.
“It’s an important step and shows that anything is possible in football, especially when you are working hard, representing the community and are humble,” he said.
“We suffered at times this season. We had a hard defeat a few weeks ago but we bounced back. I’m so proud – of the lads and the atmosphere.”
How the supporters partied under brilliant blue skies. Before the game fans thronged the streets around the Stadium of Light, the air thick with the acrid smell of red flare smoke.
Ahead kick-off the prize being eyed was eighth and the magical mystery tour that is the Conference League. But results and Sunderland’s own robust, resounding performance soon cleared the way for the much more serious business of the Europa League next season.
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Kevin Garside: West Ham’s future has never felt bleaker Daniel Storey: Tottenham have to seize this moment – I have no faith they willIt brings with it hard cash – £3.5m guaranteed for getting there plus eight group fixtures – but also some difficult choices. Sunderland know a second season in the Premier League will be difficult to navigate and now their recruitment plan must change. They will also have to comply with suffocating Uefa revenue rules.
But the club has already shown that those prepared to dream big can be rewarded. For now they should drink in one of the biggest moments in their history.
It is hard to overstate how historic it will feel in September when the group stage fixtures are drawn. Sunderland’s celebrations are thoroughly deserved.
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