Winchester is ‘proud’ to join Black Cats’ push for promotion
THERE’S a feeling that Carl Winchester’s latest move is a real coming-of-age moment.
The Belfast man, 27, has swapped League Two promotion-chasers Forest Green Rovers for League One hopefuls Sunderland.
The Black Cats are 10th in the table but, just three points off the play-off places, are hoping to earn what they believe would be a belated return to England’s second tier.
“I watched the Netflix documentary,” laughed Winchester, referencing the well-known programme that charted Sunderland’s fall from grace. “The club is huge. It doesn’t deserve to be in League One, or even the Championship. It’s a Premier League club and I’m proud to be here.”
In those terms, Winchester’s move — for an undisclosed fee
— could well be a match made in heaven.
His Forest Green Rovers boss Mark Cooper said last season that he believed his skipper should be a Championship player, a claim echoed by his new manager Lee Johnson, who believes Winchester was playing ‘below his natural level’.
He should know as Johnson managed Winchester at Oldham in League One from 2013 to 2015. It was there that the midfielder — whose twin brother Jude plays for Ballymena United — made his breakthrough in professional football, having joined from Linfield aged only 17.
Johnston recalls ‘every top club’ eyeing up Winchester’s progress in those days, before his career actually dropped a division, with both Cheltenham and Rovers in the fourth rung of the English football ladder.
Now, the player himself agrees it’s time to unlock that long-held potential and move on up.
“It’s the right time for me in my career to progress,” he said. “I’m coming into my prime — 27, 28, 29 — so I’m hoping I will settle in well with the lads, get to know them in training and kick on from there.
“Every player wants to play as high (up the leagues) as they can, but here you have everything already in place to make that happen and I’ll do my best to try and make it happen.
“Sunderland is a massive club and once I had heard of their interest there was only one place that I wanted to come. You can’t turn down a team like this.”
Winchester could make his Sunderland debut as early as tonight, when Port Vale visit in the Football League Trophy, while his first league game could come on Saturday lunchtime away at AFC Wimbledon.