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There may be no line more famous in British football punditry than Alan Hansen’s withering assessment of Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad overhaul in the summer of 1995. “You can’t win anything with kids,” warned the former Liverpool center back after an emphatic 3-1 win for Aston Villa. David Beckham, the Neville brothers et al disproved that line nine months later. Now Sunderland are out to repeat the trick to an even more extreme extent.
After all, the famed class of ’92 was supported by a back four of which three constituent parts were in their 30s, the then-31-year-old Peter Schmeichel, and Eric Cantona, who would turn 29 at the end of that tournament. If players their age turned up at the Stadium of Light in 2024 they would do well not to be carted off to an old folks’ home.
Sunderland are implausibly, remarkably, dispiritingly young. When Jobe Bellingham, the elder of their two midfield eights, was born, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” was riding high at the box office, Roger Federer was winning the U.S. Open again and “How I Met Your Mother” was making its CBS premiere. I mean … can we not? Surely Friday night’s game against Leeds is past this lad’s bedtime?
In what can only be viewed as the latest in a long line of assaults on millennials by Gen Z, through eight Championship games so far this season Sunderland are yet to afford a single minute to a player aged over 29. Four outfield players have featured in every minute for Regis Le Bris’ side so far. Three of them are aged between 19 and 22. The average age of their squad, 22.9 per Transfermarkt, is more than a year younger than the second most youthful squad in the Championship.
Remarkably this conviction in the value of youth, largely begun with the appointment of sporting director Kristjaan Speakman in 2020, has mostly paid off. Having got back to the Championship in 2022, one of the grand old clubs of the northeast very nearly made the next leap the following summer, Tony Mowbray guiding them to the play off final. Last season may have been a step back but so far in 2024-25 Sunderland are ploughing forward, leading the Championship with 18 points to their name.
That lead has been claimed in fearless, effervescent fashion, their run so far perhaps typified by the nonchalance with which Chris Rigg both scored and then described the backheel that carried his side to an impressive win over Middlesbrough late last month. Displaying the poaching instincts of a forward twice his age, the 17-year-old midfielder ghosted into place so that when Patrick Roberts’ shot cannoned around the penalty area, he was ready to snaffle up the rebound. Even then a bad first touch didn’t stop him from scoring one of the goals of the season.
“I was like ‘Aw, no, I’ve took it too wide’,” he said. “Then the only thing I could do was backheel it.”
What he didn’t say was that was with his weaker foot, from a ludicrously tight angle in a high-pressure moment against a potential promotion rival. Such moments seem not to faze Rigg.
He has had long enough to accustom himself to them. Mowbray was already naming Rigg on the bench as a 15-year-old and last season already looks like one where his development was shrewdly managed, eight starts and 803 minutes in the Championship enough to show him the ropes without risking any burnout. Now his role has increased under Le Bris, who has labeled his youngster, “a good symbol of what we want to create and build as a team and a club”.
Often played a little ahead of Dan Neil and Bellingham, Rigg has license to get the ball in his feet and go at defenders. He ranks seventh among Championship central midfielders for attempted take ons and completes 70 percent of them. Rigg throws himself into duels with abandon. When his opponents don’t have a decade on him, he might even win a few more. For now what shines through in particular the endeavour and commitment to the cause of a lad who joined Sunderland at primary school age.
Sunderland vs. Leeds viewing information
- Date: Friday, Oct. 4 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Stadium of Light — Sunderland, United Kingdom
- TV: CBS Sports Network
- Odds: Sunderland +220; Draw +240; Leeds +130
No wonder those who see him on a weekly basis are smitten. When the Sunderland Echo asks whether Rigg is the best 17 year old midfielder on the planet, it does not seem a mad question in the slightest. The outstanding fan blog Roker Report puts it best: “He’s one of those players who’s always looking for the ball; always ready to put in the hard yards, and he never shies away from a battle, no matter how big the opponent. What’s even better is knowing that he’s a local lad. He’s playing for HIS club with the kind of passion that we, as fans, live for. When you see him out there, you can tell he’s not just playing for himself—he’s playing for the badge, for the fans, for Sunderland.”
For a club that long felt like a staging post on the decline of bigger names, it is all the more special to be at the start of something. After a goal rich debut season with the club, Bellingham seems to be excelling as the slightly deeper of Le Bris’ dual eights. The 19-year-old would have the look of a prospect of real talent whatever his surname. Last season was defined by Sunderland’s difficulty finding a useful Championship striker, now they can hope that one of Wilson Isidor or Eliezer Mayenda might graduate into that player. Losing Jack Clarke, their top goalscorer in 2023-24, seemed to be a hammer blow. The emergence of Romain Mundle has cushioned it somewhat.
Whether the youngest team in the Championship can keep this fast start going is an opening question. Their non-penalty expected goal (npxG) difference after eight games is the fifth best in the division, their npxG allowed the third best. There is nothing so far in this team’s performances that makes you think they won’t be in the mix come the end of the season. Defeat Leeds, the early season darlings of advanced analytics, and they might build the momentum needed to fire them through the draining autumn months in the Championship.
Hold firm on the trajectory they find themselves on and Rigg, Bellingham and all the other bright young things at Sunderland might once more disprove the suggestion that a juvenile team can’t be a winning one.
