Sunderland's success story, featuring a largely Irish cast, may lure Irish fans to beat a path to England's north-east, writes Richard Gillis.
There are several ways in to the Sunderland story. The team's ascent in a few short months from the nether regions of the Championship to promotion to the Premier League was a remarkable turnaround. The human interest angle is equally compelling: how long before Niall Quinn and Roy Keane's big adventure is undermined by the schism of Saipan? And then there are the money men, the mysterious Drumaville consortium of predominantly Irish businessmen, who bet on red and black, and got lucky.
The substantial number of Sunderland jerseys filing through Dublin airport security on Friday April 27th suggests interest has been piqued. The supporters were on their way to their team's last home game of the season, against Burnley at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland won 3-2.
Whether this is the start of a long-term relationship between Ireland and the north-east of England is questionable. Football allegiances with clubs in the north-west and London are based on historical immigration patterns and decades of familial tradition.
But the lure of regular Premiership football is a strong one, and will tempt some to take the journey on a regular basis next season. It's an opportunity the club is taking very seriously, assiduously targeting Ireland with its marketing effort.
"It's the biggest thing since Jack Charlton and Italia '90," says Charlie Chawke, the Dublin-based publican and one of the Drumaville Consortium, the group of predominantly Irish businessmen who own Sunderland FC. Chawke and Niall Quinn, the leader of the consortium, joined the group on the aircraft heading for the north-east coast, a routine they have regularly followed since taking over the club in July last year.
For Aer Lingus, Ryanair and Aer Arran, the extra passengers represent a boost to a previously stagnant route. To capitalise further, Aer Arann has signed a deal with the club to sponsor its pre-season summer tour of Ireland, which includes a match against Keane's home town club, Cork City.
"There's a momentum there - the media interest and the Keane-Quinn link is driving up demand for flights," says Colin Lewis, head of sales and marketing at the airline. "We'd be silly not to take advantage."
Outside the Stadium of Light last Friday week, the Tricolour was much in evidence, and Dublin, Cork and Limerick accents mixed easily with the local Wearside brogue. At half-time, the stadium announcer breathlessly offered up a weekend in Dublin as first prize in the penalty shoot-out competition. The sound of collective giggling is audible from the Irish contingent in the crowd.
But Keane's charisma is being used to good effect beyond the sale of season tickets and club merchandise. At the end of last year, Sunderland City Council sent a delegation to Dublin as part of a Visit Britain initiative, aimed at raising the profile of the north-east to the travel agents and journalists in Ireland. Their selling point was straightforward. "We had a big poster of Roy on our stand. It seemed to attract more attention than anything else at the Expo," says Susan Weir, the council's press officer. "We got 90 applications from travel agents to come and have a look at the area, much more than we would normally expect."
Estate agents in the area have reported an increase in inquiries for property from Irish contacts. This has more to do with house prices than football results, but Keane's name is being leveraged here too. For the local Sunday Sunnewspaper, the possible arrival of the Keane family makes good copy. He has reportedly had two looks at Castle Eden, an eight-bedroom mansion built in the 1700s and priced at just under £2 million (€2.9m).
"Many of the inquiries from Ireland are for large homes, with plenty of land attached and priced in the region of £1 million [€1.5m]," says Sharon Thatcher of estate agents Strutt and Parker's Morpeth office. "This is an area with lots of farmland, so space is a big selling point."
THE PROPERTY LINKis ironic as money from bricks and mortar has played a significant role in the Sunderland story so far. Several of the members of the Drumaville consortium made their fortunes from property: Sean Mulryan, Pat Beirne and Patsy Byrne are developers, Paddy Kelly is a builder and Jack Tierney owns Faxhill Homes. The group is led by Quinn and John Hays, the sole Englishman and owner of the largest independent travel agency in Britain, who acts as deputy chairman of Sunderland FC. They are completed by two publicans: Louis Fitzgerald, who owns a chain of 24 pubs across Ireland, and Chawke.
In July 2006 Drumaville took on the club's £40 million (€58.7m) debt and paid £10 million (€14.7m) for complete control, including former chairman Bob Murray's 56.8 per cent stake.
Deloitte's sports group told The Irish Timesthat the value of promotion to the Premiership was £60 million (€88m) over the next year. "It doesn't seem such a risk now," says Chawke of his £2 million (€2.9m) personal investment in the project. Talking this week from behind the bar at the Goat Grill, his sports pub in the south Dublin suburb of Goatstown, Chawke says the buzz he gets from being involved outweighs the financial gain.
"We are a close-knit consortium, and all mad about sport," he says. "We have the two most dynamic people in British football working with us, the sky's the limit."
He adds: "What Roy wants, Roy gets."
Tomorrow is the final game of the season, against Luton at Kenilworth Road, and the club is gearing up for a year in the top flight. There might be a good few Irish going to join them for the ride.