Sunderland travel to Wycombe Wanderers this weekend looking to bounce back from a disappointing defeat in their last league outing.
Ahead of the trip, safc.com take a look at five people who have represented both clubs over the years.
MARTIN O'NEILL
Martin O’Neill finished his fruitful playing career in 1985 and made the jump into management in 1987 with Grantham Town.
A successful spell there saw O’Neill earn the chance to take the reigns at Wycombe Wanderers, who were in the Conference at the time.
In his first season, he took The Chairboys to fifth in the Conference and then led the club to second place the following season.
Promotion to the Football League for the first time in the club’s history was achieved in 1993 and he followed that with another promotion in 1994 to the third tier.
The momentum continued to grow with O’Neill at the helm and he narrowly missed out on the Division Two play-offs in the 1994-95 season.
He left Wycombe in the summer of 1995 to join Norwich City having earned two promotions and two FA Trophy’s.
O’Neill’s career went from strength to strength as he enjoyed huge success at Leicester City, Celtic and Aston Villa before he eventually arrived at the club he supported as a boy in 2011.
His first game in charge at the Stadium of Light saw Sunderland dramatically defeat Blackburn Rovers 2-1 thanks to two late goals from David Vaughan and Sebastian Larsson.
Form was good during the initial months with seven wins in his first 10 league games, but his reign at the club began to unravel after a crushing FA Cup quarter-final defeat at home to Everton.
After finishing 13th in his first season, O’Neill hoped that he could steer the Black Cats towards a top 10 finish in the 2012-13 season.
However, the team struggled to win games, with just one coming in the first 10 games of the season.
Five wins from eight games in December and January looked to have turned the season around, but the club failed to win any of the next seven games and were freefalling down the table.
A defeat to Manchester United at home was the final straw, and O’Neill was dismissed as manager with just seven games left to play.
LUKE O'NIEN
Luke O’Nien began his career at Watford where he made his first team debut in March 2014 against Barnsley.
He failed to really break into the first team though at Vicarage Road and signed for Wycombe Wanderers in the summer of 2015.
His performances at Adams Park helped the club get themselves out of League Two and into League One.
Sunderland came calling in the summer of 2018 and made him one of their most important players as they just missed out on promotion and the Checkatrade Trophy.
PAUL HARDYMAN
Paul Hardyman played over 100 games for Sunderland from 1989-92 and featured in the 1992 FA Cup final as a substitute against Liverpool.
His time at Sunderland came to an end in 1992 as he joined Bristol Rovers and helped turn them into a consistent promotion contender in the third tier.
A move to Wycombe Wanderers followed in 1995, where he played 15 times as the club finished mid-table in Division Two and he left to join Barnet in 1996.
BILLY KNOTT
Billy Knott featured just once for Sunderland after signing for the club as a development player in 2011.
That appearance came on the final day of the 2012-13 season against Tottenham where he replaced James McClean on 73 minutes.
Knott wanted to play more football heading into the 2013-14 season and was loaned to Wycombe Wanderers in August.
He made his debut in a 2-2 draw with Oxford United and impressed over the duration of his initial one-month loan which was extended.
He scored his first goal for the Chairboys in a 3-0 win against Plymouth Argyle and was soon recalled by Sunderland in January 2014.
Knott is currently at Chelmsford City who play in the National League South.
LOUIS LANG
Sunderland academy product Louis Laing came right through the levels at the club before making his debut for the club in May 2011 in a 3-1 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Stadium of Light.
That debut was then followed with a loan spell to Wycombe Wanderers during the 2011-12 season where he featured 11 times for the club.
Wycombe were relegated to League Two that season, but Laing impressed while there and earned a new contract at Sunderland upon his return.
In 2014 he left the club to join Nottingham Forest and has since played for Notts County, Motherwell, Inverness, Hartlepool, Blyth Spartans and Darlington.
