A five-year contract, a Chelsea hammering and so many nearly moments: Chris Lumsdon tells his Sunderland story

Back in the Peter Reid era, the pathway was clear. The most talented young players were attracted to the Stadium of Light because they could see tangible opportunities and knew first-team opportunities were far from a pipe dream.

And in no case is that more true than Chris Lumsdon – the Killingworth-born midfielder who turned down his local side, Newcastle United, for one sole reason.

“I could see a way through,” he tells The Echo.

“I could see a way through into the first-team in a few seasons.

“I had the chance to sign for Newcastle, who were on my doorstep, but Kevin Keegan was signing people for a lot of money just to play in the youth team.

“Then I looked over to Sunderland. Peter Reid had just come in and they could have gone down to League One, as it is now. I was just hoping they stayed up and then I could see a way through.”

Lumsdon’s story is one of opportunities – both taken and missed – and is a tale that will resonate with many involved in the modern game, particularly in this most unpredictable of summers.

For while the club history books will show that the 40-year-old only mustered four competitive appearances for Sunderland’s first-team squad, things could have been very different.

Indeed, in 1998 Lumsdon’s career looked to only be heading in one direction. As the 1997/98 campaign drew to a close, with the Black Cats battling for a play-off position in the first division, the midfielder was beginning to catch the eye with a string of impressive performances for the club’s reserve side.

And as the calendar turned into its second month, Sunderland were quick to notice that potential.

“Peter Reid handed me an envelope in the dressing room and told me to go home and have a word with my dad about it,” recalls Lumsdon.

“I pulled the papers out, and you can tell when its a contract because they kind of come in a line.

“I could see one year to the next year, and then the next year to the one after, so I thought I was getting a new two-year deal.

“Then I kept pulling the paper out and saw it was a five-year deal - and I almost fell off my seat in the dressing room.

“It was like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory really. I ran out to the car and bombed home as quick as I could.”

Later in the week, Lumsdon received another letter – this one informing him we would be called-up for the England under-18 squad.

Then shortly after came another message, again from Reid. He would be starting against Wolverhampton Wanderers that weekend after an injury crisis ravaged Sunderland’s squad.

“It was a special week,” says Lumsdon.

“A nerve-wracking one, but a good one.”

If Lady Luck was on Lumsdon’s side on that occasion, she took a different approach the following campaign. A groin injury left the midfielder sidelined for much of Sunderland’s 1998/98 title winning season. The midfielder was still a part of the squad – training and travelling with Reid’s side – but couldn’t build upon his senior debut.

Never one to rest on his laurels, a plan was established – and the rewards were quickly reaped.

“I decided that I would train all summer.

“When I came back in, things were coming off and I was doing well. I jumped ahead of a few people and I got put on in a friendly in Denmark and did really well.

“I played in centre midfield against Sampdoria and Rangers and every time after the game Peter Reid would mention me. Then he put me out to the left for the last couple of pre-season games and I thought that was the opening.”

As Sunderland prepared for their first season back in the top flight, Lumsdon quickly began to establish himself as a key player in the side.

An opening day fixture with Chelsea was approaching and a decision was about to be made.

“If Stefan Schwarz passed his fitness test I would be on the bench, and if he didn’t then I would play,” explains Lumdson.

“I think Stefan, using his experience of football, I think he made sure he didn’t pass the test for that one!”

Schwarz was ruled-out, and so Lumdson started at Stamford Bridge. For a brief, fleeting moment, he was on top of the world. After all, a Premier League debut is every young footballer’s dream.

Then the game began.

Cheslea were 4-0 victors in a completely dominant performance. Lumsdon was withdrawn at half-time and was then left out the squad for the subsequent league fixtures. For a young professional, it was a difficult pill to swallow.

“I played all pre-season, played that game and got pulled off at half-time and then didn’t really have any involvement at all - which was a bit hard to take.

“Looking back, the next three months was a period in my life where I really struggled. It felt like everything was there for you and then taken away.

“It probably could have been anyone who came off at half-time in that game, but I did find it tough.

“But it’s just part and parcel of growing up, and I was involved with the squad for the next two or three years.”

That involvement consisted of training with the first-team squad, travelling to fixtures and being treated like ‘royalty’ by Reid and his staff.

But ultimately, the midfielder knew he needed football.

Eye-opening loan spells at Blackpool and Crewe followed, and served as an education.

“In the first few minutes of playing for Blackpool I was getting elbowed by seasoned League One players, and in my first home game I was told if the wind got above 60mph it would be called off,” recalls Lumsdon.

And while there was a period of adaption for the academy graduate, the loan spells helped to put his name on the radar of a host of sides. After his spell with Crewe, the bids began to come in.

“Peter Reid was honest with me - he said the club was just progressing a bit too quickly for me, and that he couldn’t let me in because of the results.

“But he wasn’t going to let me go for peanuts, and that’s when the target of £500,000 for me came in.

“I was still involved in the first-team squad, but after going to Crewe I knew I wanted to force people’s hands. I didn’t want to be a loan ranger going out all the time, I wanted people to stump up some money.”

Eventually the club that did stump up the money were Barnsley – another side with whom Lumsdon had enjoyed a loan spell. The Tykes looked to be upwardly mobile and recruited a number of exciting players in a bid to gain promotion to the Championship.

“At that point, a lot of players around my age had decided to move - and those who didn’t were just kicking their heels.

“At 21 I wanted to have 100, 150 appearances on my CV and Barnsley just ticked all the boxes.

“But Peter Reid, Adrian Heath and Bobby Saxton were great. Even when I left, they’d ring me every couple of weeks for the next year or so.

“They’d check up on me and make sure I kept going.”

Things didn’t go as planned at Oakwell though, and the side were ultimately relegated to the second division as things began to turn sour. In the aftermath of that relegation, an opportunity presented itself.

“I was going to go to Birmingham if they didn’t go up to the Premier League.

“They were 1-0 down in the play-off final, so I thought I was going there. Then they turned it around and got promoted. They signed Robbie Savage instead.”

Lumsdon stuck with the Tykes as they dropped into the third tier, but found himself mysteriously left out of the team as the season reached its business end.

It wasn’t until the final game of the season that he would receive an answer as to why.

“I was meant to be playing in that game, but an hour before we left the manager pulled me in and said he couldn’t play me because there was a payment due to Sunderland if I made one more appearance. That payment had been due for months.

“There’d be hell on if that happened now.”

An exit was eventually sealed in 2004 when Lumsdon, somewhat surprisingly, joined Conference side Carlisle United – whose sales pitch included asking Lumsdon to drive from his native Newcastle over to Cumbria to emphasise how short of a commute he would be facing.

It was at the Cumbrians where Lumsdon enjoyed some real success, helping the side to back-to-back promotions along with some familiar faces – and lessons from Peter Reid.

“I should have got an agents fee from Carlisle really,” he jokes.

“I rang Michael Bridges and got him in, then I rang Paul Thirlwell and got him in.

“The three of us had grown up together at Sunderland and we carried that on into the Carlisle dressing room. We were all really close and the manager looked at us to help run the dressing room.

“You look back to the Peter Reid days and he looked at a few players - Kevin Ball, Steve Bould, Micky Gray - to help run his dressing room, and we did the same at Carlisle.

“It wasn’t negative player power, we were demanding standards and making sure all the squad had down time.

“Everything I got from my apprenticeship at Sunderland and being in Peter Reid’s dressing room, we put into Carlisle.”

Carlisle came close to sealing an unlikely promotion to the Championship in 2008 – beaten by a last-minute strike by Leeds United in the play-off semi-finals – as Lumsdon drew plaudits from across the league. And naturally, interest followed.

“I was on the verge of going to Leeds.

“I didn’t want to leave Carlisle, but the move was there for me. It would have just taken a little bit to get it over the line, Leeds needed to move a few players on and things like that, but then we went up to play a pre-season game in Scotland.”

It was that pre-season game – a 0-0 draw at Partick Thistle – that ended up defining the remainder of Lumsdon’s career.

“During that game, my back sciatica disk crumbled into my nervous system.

“Looking back, I should have retired six or seven weeks after that - but I just kept trying to get back.

“I played a few games for Carlisle at the end of that season but I was a shadow of my former self.”

Leeds’ interest was shelved, and at the end of the campaign Lumsdon was released by the Cumbrians – despite shaking hands on a new two-year contract.

A move to Darlington followed, and the midfielder did something he had never done before during his football career.

“It was the first time in my life that I decided to be a bit of a mercenary, to be honest.

“I was still professional and helped the youngsters, but I didn’t enjoy myself at all there.

“I knew I was finished but I got told that they’d sign me without a medical on a two-year deal. I signed it and within days at Darlington I knew it was over.”

Lumsdon eventually called time on his career in 2010 at the age of 30, and is well aware how differently things could have panned out.

But a decade on from his retirement, Lumsdon – who now works as a pundit for BBC Radio Cumbria – can look back at things with a slightly greater sense of perspective. The injuries, the missed opportunities and the nearly moments fade into insignificance when compared with recollections of the happier times.

“I’ve got five years at Sunderland which were just off the charts in terms of happiness, and then I’ve got the four years at Carlisle.

“So out of a fourteen-year career, I’ve been quite lucky.”