SUTTON UNITED
SUTTON UNITED In THE EFL
SINCE RE- ELECTION WAS SCRAPPED FOR 1986- 87, NO SIDE HAS EVER GONE STRAIGHT BACK DOWN
Is anything worth waiting 123 years for? Sutton United haven’t had much choice – only now, having formed in 1898, are they a Football League side for the first time.
The Us, based in south- west London, had been promoted to the fifth tier only five years ago and achieved their highest ever finish – third in the National League – in 2017- 18. They were tipped for a third straight mid- table finish last term, but Matt Gray’s side instead surprised everyone – not least their own supporters – by winning the title.
“If I’m being honest, it’s still sinking in,” Sutton fan Andrew Youngman tells FFT.
“Nobody expected us to win the title at the start of last season. It’s just incredible.”
Despite their minnows status, Sutton fans are used to seeing their side pull off a miracle. The club’s 2- 1 victory over Coventry in the 1988- 89 FA Cup third round remains one of the competition’s great giant- slayings; the Sky Blues had won it two seasons prior.
United actually went one better than that in 2018- 19, defeating AFC Wimbledon and Leeds en route to a fifth- round exit against Arsenal that was famous for pie- eating veteran goalkeeper Wayne Shaw landing himself in hot water for influencing a betting market. Despite those successes, Youngman ranks this historic promotion to League Two as Sutton’s greatest achievement yet.
“Those cup runs captured a lot of people’s imaginations,” he says. “But joining the Football League is another step up from that. I never really thought that this would ever happen as a Sutton fan.”
Those FA Cup runs may pale in comparison, but at least fans could be at Gander Green Lane to witness them. Last season, fans had to make do with streaming matches on their laptops, with only a handful open to attend amid the pandemic.
“We’re looking forward to making up for lost time,” explains Youngman. “We’ve got some semi- local games against Leyton Orient and Crawley, and Bradford sticks out because they’re ex- Premier League. They have a 25,000- capacity stadium, so that’ll be a good one to go to.”
Staying up promises to be tough, but history remains firmly on Sutton’s side: since election/ re- election was scrapped for the 1986- 87 campaign, no side promoted to the Football League has ever plummeted straight back down. No pressure...