Niall Quinn reminisces about ‘magical’ Sunderland days ahead of play-off final

Former Sunderland striker Niall Quinn admitted that the dressing room became the “most magical place” in the aftermath of the Black Cats’ 1998 play-off final loss to Charlton.

The former Republic of Ireland international was part of the side who were beaten by the Addicks in the First Division play-off final, losing 7-6 on penalties after initially drawing 4-4.

However, Sunderland bounced back one season later after a record-breaking campaign saw them secure Premier League promotion with 105 points.

Quinn was speaking on behalf of the EFL ahead of Sunderland’s Sky Bet League One play-off final against Wycombe at Wembley on Saturday afternoon, where a spot in the Championship is up for grabs.

He told the PA news agency: “Our one (play-off final) in ‘98 still reverberates the pain and the let down of having been so close. We were in the lead three times I think in the game.

“My best memory of the day was the door slamming on the dressing room when we eventually got to our dressing room, maybe half-an-hour after the last penalty.

“(Then boss) Peter Reid demanded a commitment from us individually, one-to-one, ‘are we going to come back and are we going to make a go from this and start on day one?’

“We had a terrible start to that (1997-1998) season, we had a hangover after being in the Premier League the year before, we got relegated on the last day and we didn’t start for about 10 to 12 games, but we got going brilliantly.

“Peter Reid put the question out there, demanded commitments from us and everyone committed to return back to the club and nobody was going to look for a transfer – he wasn’t going to have to sign millions of players.

“We had our holiday, came back and we had a brilliant three years from that moment on.

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