Where are they now: Sunderland team that last played Hull highlights amazing progress

An awful lot has changed at Sunderland since their last - relatively recent - trip to Hull City.

Michael Graham | Dec 16, 2022

Where are they now: Sunderland team that last played Hull highlights amazing progress /

Sunderland travel to Hull this weekend and although it's not long since the last time they did that, it certainly feels like it.

It has only actually been 20 months since the sides clashed in a League One late-season promotion clash.

Lee Johnson's men actually took the lead twice that night but were unable to hold onto either. The game finished as a 2-2 draw that helped Hull, who were promoted, a lot more than Sunderland, who were not.

What that night really highlights, though, is just how far Sunderland have come since under Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman.

There are a couple of survivors from that team still, two of which we expect to start at the MKM Stadium this week, but the rest is a real eye-opener.

Simply click through the gallery to see the 15 players who played for Sunderland that night and where they are now. It certainly highlights how much better things are now.

Lee Burge had his good moments for Sunderland and could generally be relied upon for a penalty save now and again. He was signed as a number two, though, and always looked like one. He left Sunderland last summer to join League Two side Northampton and he has firmly established himself there.

You often think about Max Power and wonder if he was the right player for Sunderland a couple years too early. Power left the club on free transfer before the start of the 2021/22 season after three seasons on Wearside. He went back to old club Wigan, captained them to promotion, and has played every minute in the Championship for them so far this season.

I doubt you’ll find any Sunderland fans who don’t like Bailey Wright. Mind, I think you’d struggle too find any who rate him especially highly either. He is rightly still a part of Sunderland’s squad now after signing a new deal in the summer, although he isn’t quite as important as he once was.

Try as you might, you just can’t keep Luke O’Nien down. He has quietly racked up 196 appearances for Sunderland, many with his right arm literally hanging off, and never given anything less than absolutely everything. He’s still at Sunderland, more loved than ever, and only seems to be getting better.

In my 35 years supporting Sunderland, I genuinely cannot remember a player worse than Callum McFadzean. That is more reflective of Phil Parkinson and Stuart Donald than the player himself, but he really was quite remarkably bad. He currently plays for Wrexham in the National League – for Phil Parkinson.

Sometimes players coming back doesn’t work out, as we found out with Jermain Defoe last season. Other times, it does. Grant Leadbitter wanted to come back and help Sunderland back into the Championship. He wasn’t able to do it, but his efforts were always appreciated. He retired at the end of the 2020/21 season after winning a trophy with Sunderland at Wembley. He actually scored his last ever goal that night at Hull.

The last time we saw Josh Scowen was one of the best days in recent Sunderland history. He was playing for the opposition, like, but still. Scowen was one of the first players to be released in the Louis-Dreyfus/Speakman revolution and joined Wycombe in the summer of 2021. He is still there now and a key player.

Technically, Carl Winchester is still a Sunderland player although for all intents and purposes he has moved on. Winchester played an important role in getting Sunderland promoted from League One, even if he suffered an injury that kept him out of the run-in. The club decided he had reached his ceiling though and loaned him to Shrewsbury until his contract expires.

Lynden Gooch has that Luke O’Nien quality of being able to come back even better every time he is written off. The American played on the right wing the last time Sunderland played Hull, but he has now pretty firmly established himself as the club’s top right-back amid fierce competition.

Jordan Jones came in on loan from Rangers, looked great one week, dreadful for the next three or four, then had another decent game again. Sunderland decided they needed more consistency in their lives and didn’t make the deal a permanent one. He joined Wigan that summer but failed to establish himself. He is currently on loan at former club Kilmarnock but has failed to register a single goal or assist in the Scottish Premiership since his return.

Charlie Wyke was a slow burner at Sunderland, where he had two injury-plagued seasons after joining from Bradford. His third season was spectacular as he scored 31 goals. That wasn’t enough to convince Sunderland to break the bank to stop him, especially with Ross Stewart ready to step up, but he got a good offer from Wigan. He is back playing – and scoring – this season after a horrific heart scare in training last year.

Denver Hume, at one time, looked like he had a genuine chance at Sunderland. He was quick and dynamic and could deliver a cross, but struggled defensively and could not stay fit to save his life. There was a big contract stand-off at the start of the 2021/22 season and, although he eventually extended his stay at the club, he was very much behind Dennis Cirkin and the lack of a pre-season did his already ailing fitness no good at all. He joined Portsmouth last summer where his injury woes have persisted, limiting him to just 12 League One games in nearly a year.

Aiden O’Brien was a workhorse forward who always had that look of a player who never did anything intentionally – even the good stuff. He left for Portsmouth in January 2022 and then moved on again to Shrewsbury last summer. However, he has played just six times for the Shrews since due to injury.

Ah yes, the man many called ‘King’ for some reason… To give Chris Maguire his due, he always played for Sunderland like he knew it was the pinnacle of his career, and that has proven to be the case. Occasionally brilliant, but mostly just annoying (for the opposition mainly), Maguire has not had a good time since leaving Sunderland. He signed for Lincoln on a free transfer and couldn’t produce - other than a hat-trick against Sunderland, of course – and left under a cloud amid a gambling investigation. He plays for Hartlepool now. Well, in theory at least. He is contracted to them but is not permitted to play yet whilst the gambling investigation is ongoing.

Jack Diamond is still a Sunderland player, although he is out sharpening his game in League One with Lincoln. He is doing splendidly by all accounts.

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