{"id":462150,"date":"2025-09-30T04:15:33","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/462150\/"},"modified":"2025-09-30T04:15:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:15:33","slug":"gary-neville-wowed-by-leeds-and-sunderland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/462150\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Neville wowed by Leeds and Sunderland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leeds United<\/a> and their newly-promoted counterparts Sunderland<\/a> and Burnley have started life back in the Premier League very well overall.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Going into this season, a lot of the narrative around the Premier League was that the gap is far too big for promoted Championship clubs to compete.<\/p>\n

The last two sets of promoted trios have dropped straight back down, but Leeds, Burnley and especially Sunderland, are showing that the jump up isn\u2019t actually an impossible feat.<\/p>\n

Most Read on LeedsAllOver<\/p>\n

Sunderland win, Leeds United draw as Gary Neville goes back on \u2018fixed\u2019 Premier League admission<\/p>\n

The media last season were going very heavy on the idea that the Premier League is clearing an insurmountable gap to Championship clubs coming up each season.<\/p>\n

So much so that Gary Neville mentioned in mid-April<\/a> how the league was heading towards a more \u201cfixed\u201d position with the same 17 teams staying up year-on-year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s becoming more fixed as a position,\u00a0and the competitive nature of the entire league is\u00a0something definitely to be concerned about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has previously insisted the gap is too big for promoted clubs such as Leeds United in the Premier League. (REUTERS\/Peter Powell)<\/p>\n

Well, the three promoted sides collecting a combined 23 points from their six games apiece is the best start from any trio of newcomers since the 17\/18 season.<\/p>\n

In the three, Leeds will be quietly enthused by their eight points and overall performances. However, Sunderland sitting 5th on 11 points after beating Nottingham Forest away from home is the biggest statement of the three clubs so far.<\/p>\n

When asked by Peter Drury on Sky Sports\u2019 Gary Neville Podcast<\/a> about Sunderland\u2019s start, the right-back was happy to eat his words about how competitive newly-promoted teams can be.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI really like what I\u2019ve seen [from Sunderland] and I\u2019ve only seen highlights so far and parts of games but it\u2019s brilliant what they\u2019ve done,\u201d Neville said at St James\u2019 Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we need to see teams from the Championship do well. We really need to see that as a big part of the Premier League. Teams need to be given encouragement without bankrupting themselves. I think what Leeds have done and Burnley have done and Sunderland, but look, it\u2019ll still be difficult. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great start for them, a great win at Nottingham Forest, a tough team to play for against the majority of last season, just finding their feet this season. What a great start for Sunderland, they deserve a special mention.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Anyone who used a shred of context for the previous promoted teams could see that the gap wasn\u2019t actually too big.<\/p>\n

Leicester, Ipswich, Southampton, Luton, Burnley, and Sheffield United all either recruited terribly, were coached terribly, or were both.<\/p>\n

The three sides that have come up this time around are the opposite on current evidence. All three know their limitations, so aren\u2019t trying to pass like Pep\u2019s Barcelona, and it\u2019s paying off.<\/p>\n

Recruitment is a big part, as we\u2019re seeing this overhauled Sunderland side looking very much part of the league now, and hopefully plaudits come Leeds\u2019 way soon enough too. Burnley\u2019s run of games gets a lot more favourable too soon, so they may well start catching the eye.<\/p>\n

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds United and their newly-promoted counterparts Sunderland and Burnley have started life back in the Premier League very…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,9029,25764,393,1676,4884,1860,2922,142361,2958,142362,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-462150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-burnley","10":"tag-elland-road","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-gary-neville","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-leeds","15":"tag-leeds-united","16":"tag-lufc","17":"tag-sunderland","18":"tag-the-whites","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115291313091202852","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}