Exclusive: George Honeyman reflects on Sunderland pride, Wembley heartache and those spine-tingling scenes in the capital

In the third edition of our ‘My defining Sunderland games’ series, George Honeyman talks us through the four games that sum up his time on Wearside.
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He talks us through the immense pride of being named club captain, of playing a part in Sunderland’s revival, and the heartache that followed at Wembley.

His defining games sum up his journey from academy graduate to being a 24-year-old at the very heart of one of the club’s most exhausting and emotional campaigns.

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It’s a story of eventual disappointment, but also huge pride and emotion…..

Sunderland midfielder George Honeyman talks through his defining Sunderland gamesSunderland midfielder George Honeyman talks through his defining Sunderland games
Sunderland midfielder George Honeyman talks through his defining Sunderland games

You can hear our team discuss Honeyman’s defining games in a special edition of the Roar podcast here

Hartlepool United (A) July 14th, 2008

Sunderland arrived for their second pre-season game, having started the Jack Ross era with a 1-0 defeat to Darlington.

The club remained very much in transition and so much remained unknown.

Honeyman was one of a number of players whose future had been the subject of much speculation and this draw was another tricky afternoon for a club still trying to heal after consecutive relegations.

Ross was facing a difficult balancing act.

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Running the rule over academy products, trying to assess who from the previous squad would be able to contribute, and bedding in the signings that were gradually beginning to arrive.

For Honeyman, though, all of that uncertainty and outside noise fell away the moment he arrived at Victoria Park, and the major impression he had made on his new manager in this challenging early weeks became clear...

I walked into the changing room and saw the armband on my peg.

I didn’t have a clue beforehand; it hadn’t even crossed my mind and it’s an image that will stick with me forever.

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Even leading the team out in a pre-season friendly meant the absolute world to me.

I don’t even remember the game that much – I think we ended up drawing 1-1. It wasn’t even a particularly good game.

It was just that feeling of seeing that captain’s armband on my peg, I’ll never forget that moment. That was the first time I really thought, ‘come on, I want to make this mine’.

With or without the armband, I always like to think I help my teammates, lead by example and put my point across when I need to.

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It was a bit of a surprise, purely because of the number of big names and experience in the squad. It didn’t really cross my mind that it was an option but it was a dream come true.

With that armband on your arm, you feel like you could run through ten brick walls. It’s a feeling I don’t think you could ever properly get used to.

Not that you should need any extra motivation but you will run that extra ten yards, make that extra run in the box, put your foot in when you need to.

It’s great motivation to take your game up another level.

The week before the first league game against Charlton, Jack Ross pulled me in his office and asked me if I wanted to be club captain and, as you can imagine, I couldn’t say yes quick enough.

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By that point I had an inkling because I’d been captain of every pre-season game. It was a huge moment in my life, all pretty special.

My main objective then was to do it justice. I wanted to be a captain that my teammates, staff and the club would be proud of.

I’d like to think I went the extra mile for my teammates when they needed me.

Sunderland: McLaughlin (Stryjek, 66); Matthews, Love, Flanagan (Taylor, 81), Hume; McGeouch (Mumba, 73), Honeyman (Molyneux, 81), Cattermole (Robson, 66); McManaman (Nelson, 81), Gooch (Kimpioka, 81), Maja (Maguire, 66)

Goals: Muir, 19 Kimpioka, 90

Charlton Athletic (H) August 4th, 2018

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The club had settled a little but the squad was still very much being built.

Ross had suffered some key setbacks.

Tom Flanagan, so assured through pre-season, picked up a serious injury days before the campaign started.

Dylan McGeouch had been superb in previous weeks but was also injured.

Jack Baldwin was still adjusting, Aiden McGeady and Charlie Wyke still sidelined.

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Ethan Robson had been set to start but suffered an injury setback, meaning Luke O’Nien was thrown into midfield having not yet made an appearance since signing.

Ross had also taken the bold call to give Bali Mumba a starting berth.

It was, to put it mildly, a leap into the unknown for all involved.

Sunderland were on the ropes but half-time but Ross reshuffled and what followed felt like the start of a new dawn….

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The feeling of leading the lads out for the first time at the Stadium of Light with 30-odd thousand there was hairs on the back of the neck stuff.

There had been a lot of change at the club. New owners came in the very last game of the previous season, we had a new manager, quite a lot of new playing staff.

I definitely felt a bit of pressure.

There were a lot of experienced players who fans probably expected to be given the armband, but it was given to me. Being captain of a club like Sunderland is already huge pressure because of the amount of fans and expectation, with us being in League One as well.

If you look at that starting XI then to what it was at the end of the season, I don’t think many of those lads played much of the season.

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It wasn’t surprising because we were a really young team, waiting for a few more players to come in and a few to come back from injury.

You go into a season and you’re not sure who are going to be your rivals for promotion. Charlton ended up being one of them so it was a really good victory.

Lynden Gooch scored a last-minute header and the place was absolutely rocking. I remember saying: ‘This is what we can do to the place. This is what it’s like when it’s rocking.’

For players who had only been there a year or two, they’d seen the Stadium of Light as a pretty hard place to play. The atmosphere had been really tough for a few years so it was nice to start with a win and get the Stadium of Light rocking again.

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After all the pain of the year before, to win in the last second, with a new owner, new manager, my first game as captain, it felt like a new dawn. The feeling around the place after the game was the most special thing. It felt like a fresh beginning for the club and I was at the forefront of it.

The feelgood factor around the place was huge. When you get that place bouncing, I imagine there’s no better place in the world.

Sunderland: McLaughlin; Love (Oviedo, 26), Ozturk, Loovens, Matthews; Mumba, Honeyman, O’Nien (Sinclair, 46 (Molyneux, 90)); Gooch, Maguire, Maja

Subs not used: Ruiter, Baldwin, Embleton, Hume

Goals: Taylor (10, pen) Maja, 65 Gooch, 90

Portsmouth & Charlton Athletic (Wembley) March 31st & May 26th, 2019

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The season would ultimately be defined by two heartbreaking defeats at Wembley.

Honeyman played over 40 times and scored eight goals in a season that ended in disappointment but brought some memories to last a lifetime.

Particularly when it came to that remarkable weekend in March….

We got the train down to London for the Checkatrade final.

When we arrived, King’s Cross was full of Sunderland fans, singing songs at us when we were getting off.

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It was absolutely packed! If there was ever a hair on the back of your neck moment, it was then. I think even the lads who had been at other huge clubs were taken aback by it. It was crazy.

The night before, Trafalgar Square was taken over by Sunderland fans.

There was this immense pride that you were there representing the club. You just want to do those fans justice, the whole place justice, because it’s crying out for a team to be proud of.

Before the game I’d got sent off at Wycombe and initially I thought I’d be missing the game.

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I remember being in the changing room at Wycombe thinking: ‘Oh my God. You get the chance to lead the team out at Wembley and what have you done?’ In the end, I was allowed to play because it was a different competition.

In the warm-up, they did both teams’ songs.

I remember looking up during ‘Wise Men Say’ and seeing all the scarves and people singing it right up to the very top of Wembley.

If you could bottle that feeling, you’d be able to sell it for any price you want. It was pretty special.

I felt I had a really good first half and I was really happy at that stage. I felt we were slightly unlucky not to win that game.

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The Charlton game, we were all really disappointed with how that turned out. We were feeling really good going into the final after beating Portsmouth, who had been our nemesis all year.

We have to hold our hands up – Charlton were by far and away the better team that day. That they won it with a last-minute goal was an even more bitter pill to swallow.

If we look back, we didn’t do ourselves justice and if there’s one game I’d want back, it’d be that one.

It wasn’t through a lack of trying, maybe we just ran out of gas. We’d played a lot of football that year, getting to two finals.

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I remember walking off the pitch and Charlton were singing a Beatles song, Twist and Shout. It’s one of my favourite songs and I can’t even listen to that song again after seeing them celebrate.

Those feelings after the game, that will motivate you in the future because you never want to feel that low after a game again. You just want to bury your hand in the sand and not come up for a couple of years.

I was extremely proud of the season we had last year, to give the fans two trips to Wembley, after the couple of seasons before.

We didn’t lose many games, it was the draws that killed us, but to produce all those wins and get to two finals is tough going for any team.

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It’s something I’m extremely proud of and they’re memories that will be hard to top in my career because of how much the club means to me.

Sunderland (v Portsmouth): McLaughlin, O’Nien, Flanagan, Baldwin, James (Hume 88), Morgan (Gooch 73), Cattermole, Leadbitter (Wyke 95), McGeady, Honeyman, Grigg (Power 77)

Subs not used: Ruiter, McGeouch, Dunne

Goals: McGeady, 38 Thompson, 82, Lowe, 114, McGeady, 119

Sunderland (v Charlton Athletic): McLaughlin, Oviedo, Ozturk, Cattermole, Maguire (Grigg 57), Wyke (McGeady 72), Honeyman, Flanagan, O'Nien, Leadbitter, Power (Morgan 9).

Subs not used: Stryjek, Matthews, Gooch, Dunne.

Goals: Sarr OG, 5 Purrington, 35, Bauer, 90

Honeyman stepped up to the Championship when Hull City came calling in the summer.

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Jack Ross hailed his ‘passion, attitude, passion for the club and job’, telling him he could look back on his time with pride.

He made a major impression on every manager he played for, with Chris Coleman describing him as the ‘best professional he’d ever worked with’.

While the season ended in disappointment, Honeyman’s overwhelming emotions are pride and gratitude...

The club raised me.

Everyone throughout the academy up to the cleaners, kitchen staff, the lot, they’re all like family to me.

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I’ve got nothing but good things to say. It’s amazing they gave me that life experience and made me the person I am today.

I think I spent more time at the Academy of Light than I have at my own home!

From coming in at 10 years old, to say I captained the club for a season and twice at Wembley, that is literally the stuff of dreams. Not many academy boys can say that.

There were obviously disappointing ends to seasons but if I was 10 years old and you’d offered me the chance to play just once at Sunderland, I’d have taken it.

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To end up with about 100 appearances and captain for a season, I’ll never have anything but fondness for the club.

Read our first instalment of ‘My defining Sunderland games’ with Stephen Elliott here

And the second with Marcus Stewart here