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In the words of the late Davey Atkinson, let’s get carried away, man. 17 points after nine games, Champions League-level form, and a team we can all get behind and just adore.
In 28 years of being a fan,
I have never in my memory witnessed a Sunderland side perform this well from the pitch right up to the board; we are defying every metric that was against us at the start of the season.
“Wait till you play someone decent”, “it’s only West Ham, Brentford, Wolves, etc.” and now it’s Chelsea, away at Stamford Bridge against a £2 billion-pound super squad. Our ceiling is endless at the moment, and to everyone saying “enjoy your moment”, we will enjoy every second of it.
A lot of other fans saw our club fade into insignificance, but none of them were there watching it unfold in front of us, turning up in numbers every week to watch us struggle against minnows in the lower leagues and treat Sunderland as a big day out. The frustration, the despair, the tears during the Netflix documentary era, and now, after all that heartache, we can finally say we have our club back where they belong.
We know more than most the highs and lows of being a football fan. We have experienced the lowest of the lows for a club of our stature, and now we are at the other end of the spectrum, competing and performing at the highest level and proving to the league that we are not here to make up the numbers.
There will be an inevitable drop-off in form, or there may not be; what’s so exciting is none of us know how good this might get. No matter what happens, survival was always the goal, so anything more than that is a massive bonus, and to those who say “we’re delusional”, “wait till this and that”, “wait till AFCON”, I say it doesn’t matter. If we can’t enjoy this, when as a football fan can you celebrate anything?
It’s what being a fan of this club is all about, indulging in the pure delirium of our team performing so well, selling out home and away and being the loudest wherever we go. It may all change, but for now, I’m going to sit back and just smile at the fact that Sunderland Association Football Club are a force to be reckoned with and that we support a team to be proud of.
