Is the journey better than the prize?

The 2024-25 Premier League season is approaching the third-of-the-way mark. Leicester, Southampton, and Ipswich have each played 11 games in the top flight, after a long campaign in the Championship to seal promotion the year before.

Southampton had the longest season, playing 49 matches, and they instantly returned to the Premier League, with Leicester winning the league comfortably to join them. Ipswich had a brilliant season, losing just six games on their way to a second-placed finish. The Tractor Boys booked their place back in the Premier League for the first time in over 20 years.

However, these sides’ fortunes are the same as those of other promoted clubs when they get to the Premier League. These three have won just four games between them, with Leicester winning two. Southampton are rock bottom with four points and some convincing defeats to their name and whilst Ipswich have managed to get some good draws as well as an impressive 2-1 win at Tottenham, they are just one point above the relegation zone.

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Fans of these clubs can often be seen moaning about the league on social media. VAR and their sides being of their depth and underprepared for the brutality of the division are comments that you’ll regularly find.

So many teams now seem to get promoted, spend a lot of money, and usually come straight back down anyway.

The Premier League was once heralded as the promised land, where teams could fulfil the ultimate dream of battling it out with the big boys. There was always the element of fighting uphill battles against the best teams in the division, but somehow it feels like some of that magic has gone.

It’s no lie that some teams go up to the Premier League and hold out for financial stability. Many sides have gone up, barely strengthened and come back down only much richer. The parachute payments can then be used to stabilise the club with the hopes of one day becoming a settled and competitive Premier League football club.

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We have seen examples of this recently, with Fulham, Bournemouth and Aston Villa being two of the best examples. Others such as Brighton and Brentford have gone up and nailed it first time, and especially Brighton have gone on to play European football currently sitting joint third in the table.

On the other end of the spectrum, some sides have gone up and have been dumped out of the league with barely a whimper. Sheffield United were dreadful last season, winning just three games and conceding over 100 goals on their way to a measly 16 points. This tally placed between our infamous 15-point and 19-point seasons earlier this century. They’ve then dropped back to the Championship and are level on points with Sunderland at the top of the table.

The gulf between the Championship and Premier League is growing, and Sheffield United’s dismal season last year and the positive start they’ve made this time around is evidence of that. Fans and clubs pine for the Premier League, but the switch from winning most weeks to winning a single-digit number of football games in a season can be a tough one.

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In Sunderland’s last season in the Premier League, we won just six games. We were stuck with crap, overpaid players many of which dragged us down to League One before running off to the bank. If we were to get promoted, the structure of the club would likely dictate a set up far different from this, but the worry is a return to the top flight and being unable to compete.

Losing week in and week out doesn’t do anyone good, even if we do go up and try to build for the Premier League. We’ve seen too many teams walk the Championship only to get battered in the top flight.

The Championship is a great league, and we know from years gone by that a promotion campaign can be a lot of fun. The issue is knowing how much this actually sets teams up for a good stab at the Premier League, and sometimes even spending millions and millions of pounds isn’t enough.

Promotion is a dream still for Sunderland and despite our great start, there is a long way to go. But hypothetically if we were to get promoted, I think many of us would enjoy this season a hell of a lot more than whatever happens back in the Premier League.