“The new year will be embraced and if it's half as exciting as 2025, we’re in for a treat”, writes Paddy Hollis.
Sunderland kicked off 2025 with a well-earned 2-1 win over Sheffield United and ended it with a 1-1 draw with another Yorkshire club in Leeds United.
In between it’s been twelve extraordinary months supporting Sunderland, with ambition being shown off the pitch and determination on it. Christmas Eve marked five years since Kyril Louis-Dreyfus bought a majority stake in the club; in these five years, we’ve done some special things and during 2025, we’ve had one hell of a time.
We’ve seen so many standout moments and there’s a strong argument that outside of our cup-winning years, this could be the best ever for our club. From one of the most dramatic Championship playoff campaigns imaginable, to returning to the Premier League, beating Newcastle, countless last-minute goals and being in the top six for Christmas Day, it’s a year where it’s been a privilege to support Sunderland.
We’ve made the Stadium of Light a fortress, and to reach Christmas without a home defeat is a testament to this. We’ve also been able to create an atmosphere that makes things difficult — and it started back with the blood-and-thunder, 120th-minute win against Coventry back in May.
It’s been said by plenty of people that our home success has been because each match has been an event — a cup final, if you will. We’ve got the place rocking and whilst we’ve not been bad on the road (tenth in the away fork table), at home we’re a different beast.
We’ve had a very clear plan when it comes to away games, and we’ve picked up points more often than not in these games, which for a newly promoted side, should be admired. Many teams coming up from the Championship in the past would set up with ten men behind the ball and hope for the best — but we’re not any like any old promoted team.
Sunderland were promoted to the Premier League thanks to a goal scored by a player we already knew was leaving in the summer. We also went into the playoffs on the back of a poor run of form that was, in hindsight, all very tactical.
Whilst we panicked about having no momentum going into the playoffs, Régis Le Bris was constructing a master plan — first to get past a bogey team in Coventry City and then win at Wembley. My heart sank when it was confirmed the Sky Blues would be our semi-final opponent, but the arrogance of some of their fans made our last-gasp winner even sweeter.
When Dan Ballard nodded it in via the crossbar, whatever success we had in the final would need to be spectacular to top it, so it’s a good thing it did.
We all thought the Wembley win might’ve been the peak but it turned out to be one of several incredible moments of 2025. No one could’ve envisioned Sunderland being in the top half throughout the first half of the season, but it’s not undeserved.
As the year comes to a close, we have big challenges ahead but with the January transfer window about to open, you can feel the optimism and excitement reverberating around the club, and it’s like nothing we’ve seen before.
As Sunderland fans, all we want is a club to be proud of; to make the long journeys and financial commitments feel worthwhile now and again.
In 2025, we’ve been treated to so many fantastic moments and 2026 is a chance for us to build on all we’ve achieved — to kick on and perhaps reach heights the club has never seen before. We start the year with our hardest home game on paper, but with this team, nothing should be feared.
The new year will be embraced and if it’s half as exciting as 2025, we’re in for a treat.
Category: General Sports
