REGIS Le Bris will take charge of his 100th Sunderland game at Manchester City tomorrow, and says this is “just the beginning” for the Black Cats.
Le Bris will become the first Sunderland boss since Roy Keane to reach a century of games in the dugout, and while the 100th game turned out to be the last for the Irishman, the future is hugely exciting for the current head coach.
It’s been a remarkable couple of years for Sunderland since Le Bris’ appointment, with the Frenchman leading the Black Cats to promotion to the Premier League in his first season in charge and qualification for the Europa League in his second.
Sunderland have come an awful long way since Luke O’Nien and Jack Clarke scored at Cardiff on the opening day of the 2024/25 season to secure a 2-0 victory for the Black Cats in Le Bris’ first competitive games in charge.
And it’s fitting that the 50-year-old brings up a century of games in what is one of Sunderland’s greatest weeks in the club’s history, with the Europa League opener against AZ Alkmaar sandwiched in between Premier League clashes against Arsenal and Manchester City.
“It feels like a sprint,” said Le Bris, reflecting on his time in charge so far, before picking out some of his highlights from his time in charge so far.
“It’s been a long journey from Cardiff to Coventry at home, then Wembley, Premier League [opener] with West Ham, I would say twice Newcastle maybe in the ranking, and the last game against Chelsea and then two days ago against AZ Alkmaar.
“It’s been a fantastic journey. I didn’t set a limit before. We are working hard as much as we can.
“With the quality of the connection, the lads, the fans, we created something impressive, I think. It’s just the beginning, I hope, and we are still in this process.”
While the above games are the stand-out highs for Le Bris, another win also springs to mind for the head coach.
“I mentioned it last season, the win away at Leeds I think was really important,” said Le Bris, reflecting on the Elland Road success that carried the Black Cats past the 40-point mark last term.
“Granit [Xhaka] didn’t play this game in the start and I think it was the perfect experience about the mentality, the togetherness, high press against high press, how pragmatic you need to be for a period of time.
“We showed great maturity at that moment and we won seizing our opportunity. It was, I think, a really important game and I’m really proud of this one.”
