Victory needed to rekindle fans' faith

A Year on the Wear: The Wigans and the Readings. It has become one of Roy Keane's stock phrases, a reference to two clubs that have bucked expectations on promotion to the Premier League and not only stayed up but thrived.

Wigan finished tenth in their first-ever top-flight season, and reached the League Cup final. Reading finished eighth last season, three places above Aston Villa, five above Newcastle, six above Manchester City. You can see why Keane likes the Wigans and the Readings.

The difference between liking them and matching them, however, is everything. Sunderland have already swallowed what Wigan have to offer this season and a 3-0 defeat in Lancashire remains on Wearside's taste buds.

The hope is a victory over Reading today will cleanse the palate and Reading have just lost their last two games 3-0, at Bolton and then at home to West Ham. Steve Coppell will not be the only one reading a lot into those results. Wearside is.

Paul Jewell is, too, though with a sense of distance that aids calm analysis. Jewell was the man behind Wigan's rise from what was the bottom of the old third division to the Premiership and although he came to disdain the term, he understood what other people meant by 'second season syndrome'. Reading could be going through it.

As with Coppell and Reading last season, two years ago Jewell brought the core of the Championship team with him into the Premiership and kept them in the side, players like Leighton Baines, Jimmy Bullard, Lee McCullough and Jason Roberts.

"For them, for me, for our fans, there was a novelty factor that first season," Jewell said this week. "That was exciting for us and it was an advantage I think. For the players there is that sheer excitement of going to Old Trafford or Anfield first time around but in the second season it can become: 'Christ, it's hard'.

In that first season there certainly was not the pressure on us that there was in the second, there was not the same expectation from our fans.

"Reading will find that, perhaps are finding that already this time around. For Sunderland it might be slightly different in that while lots of things at the club are new, the fans know what it is like to be in the Premier League and to be relegated from it. There'll be a different atmosphere there."

Although there is undoubtedly a tingle of anticipation still about being among the elite again, victory over Reading would refresh how Sunderland feels about itself. Three consecutive league defeats have skimmed some of Wearside's enthusiasm but it would return with added value if three points were won well today. Then the derby at Middlesbrough next weekend would look appealing.

As Jewell said: "It's about getting on a roll. Our first-ever game in the top flight, which everyone still seems to remember, was against Chelsea and we were unlucky to lose. What fewer remember is that we went to Charlton the next week and lost. After two games, we'd lost two and not scored. So our next game was massive, funnily enough against Sunderland."

Mick McCarthy's team had finished seven points above Wigan in winning promotion but when they arrived at Wigan they had lost their first three games. For both clubs it was a vital match, even in August.

"We got a penalty after about ten seconds," Jewell recalled, "and then we held on. I know it shouldn't, but it did feel like a six-pointer. I try to avoid manager-speak - that's one of the reasons I like Roy Keane and Steve Coppell - but after that Sunderland game I used phrases about 'getting monkeys off our backs' etc.

"We had our first goal, our first win and our first clean sheet. And then we were on a roll."

Wigan's roll took them to eight wins in nine games, including victories at Aston Villa, Portsmouth and Everton. The other game was a 1-1 draw at home to Middlesbrough. It was one of only three goals conceded in that nine-game run.

"By the end of October we felt safe." By the start of November Wigan were second.

"You have to be positive when you go up," Jewell said, "and while I think the top four have eased away even further, the rest can beat each other. Reading beat Everton, then lost to Bolton. Sunderland will think they can beat Reading, just as I'd hope they'd think they could beat Manchester City or whoever.

"But you do have to be difficult to beat as well. You have to be resilient, that can get you one or two encouraging wins. Roy Keane has taken Sunderland from the bottom of the Championship but he was in the Premiership long enough to know it is an unforgiving place. He doesn't need me to tell him that."

Keane also doesn't need reminding of the potential significance of today. The Stadium of Light will be an emotional place due to the presence of many of the 1973 FA Cup-winning team commemorating Ian Porterfield.

There is a sense of occasion that would not be expected for Sunderland versus Reading - 17th v 18th. As Keane said on Thursday - a very relaxed Keane: "Must-win games normally occur at Easter, not September, but this is a very important game for us."

What Keane and Jewell have also shared is the sometimes frustrating process of recruitment on promotion.

"When we got there we couldn't get the players we wanted," said Jewell. "We tried to buy Robert Huth and agreed a £5 million fee with Chelsea, but he didn't want to come.

"And there were others. We ended up making late signings such as Stephane Henchoz and Arjan De Zeeuw. I don't know if, for example, Kieran Richardson was top of Keane's list at the beginning but as time goes on and you can't get people, and then as others become available, things change. It's not easy.

"A good question is: 'Who can you get?' Ideally you want to buy players from the top ten teams in England but they don't want to sell them to you. So do you go abroad, the Championship, do you buy top clubs' reserves?

"And when you bring people in, they need time to bed in. I brought in Luis Valencia and Denny Landzaat to Wigan and they're showing this season already that they're better than they were last season.

"You need time. It's just there's not much of it in the Premier League."