The top two places in this season’s Championship were taken by clubs freshly relegated at the end of the 2023/24 season. Leeds and Burnley ended the season tied on 100 points each, with Leeds taking the title on goal difference.
But the third of those relegated clubs, Sheffield United, couldn’t bounce straight back. They were dramatically beaten by a stoppage-time winner by Sunderland in the play-off final, continuing their dismal run of having played in five play-off finals without having won one, and will spend at least one more season in the Championship.
Micah Richards fears for Sunderland most out of the three promoted clubs to the Premier League
Speaking on Match of the Day on the final weekend of the Premier League season, Micah Richards offered his opinions on the prospects for the three clubs coming up to the top tier for next season.
“It’s hard,” ex-England international Richards said, on the evidence that Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton produced in the 2024-25 season after coming up from the Championship.
“But I watched Burnley a lot this season. They’re solid; really good defensively. Leeds will have money to spend.”
But when he moved onto the subject of Sunderland, his assessment was somewhat more withering, stating: “I fear for Sunderland.”
Sunderland’s young core don’t need to “fear” Premier League – they’ll relish the new challenge
Furthermore, the Black Cats seem likely to lose one of their most influential players, Jobe Bellingham, this summer, while their squad is already a fairly young one.
They’re also already set to break their club-record transfer fee by making Enzo Le Fee’s spell on loan from Roma permanent at a reported cost of £19.3 million. But Sunderland have a lot of work to do to build a squad that will give pundits greater confidence that they can avoid falling straight back next season.
When Micah Richards says that he “fears” for Sunderland, there are good reasons for him to do so, but the Sunderland squad itself shouldn’t be worried about stepping up, given most of them still have plenty of potential left to grow into.
Le Bris will have to bring some more experience in to complement the current young core, but there’s so many reasons to be excited for the Black Cats fanbase going into next season.
