A lot has changed in the last 10 years – Brexit, a global pandemic, and Donald Trump being elected… twice. But the more things change, the more they stay the same, and after nearly a decade apart Sunderland are finally ready to meet Newcastle in the league once again.
This then is no normal derby. This isn’t a derby brought about by the fortune afforded to us through numerical chance (otherwise known as a cup draw) but one that has been earned, so that now we face the old enemy as peers as well as rivals.
The world around us has changed so much since we last met; the cities we live in are almost unrecognisable since then, and our lives are invariably different from those days too. The time that has passed has seen Sunderland sink to new lows and reach new highs – chastening defeats to Bolton and Rotherham juxtaposed by improbable results at Chelsea and Liverpool. In that time we may have left, but in that time we have also returned.
This should be a derby that, regardless of result, celebrates that – an unashamed celebration of our resurrection and the dedication we have all shown that we should be rewarded with games like this all over again. After years wondering whether we would ever see these games again, now our time is taken up pondering the result and daring to dream of one that would be the jewel in the crown of a glistening 2025.
This derby is for us all – it is for those who have stuck by when the club reached its lowest ebb, when it was always the easier option to walk away, to save yourself the money, the time, and the inevitable heartache that would follow. This is the final exorcism of the demons of the past, the painful play-off losses, the embarrassing defeats, and the circus that too often followed Sunderland around the lower tiers of English football, knowing that no matter what happens we have seen and lived through far, far worse.
This is for those who never doubted, who never, ever wavered and kept the faith no matter what. It is for those who sadly saw their last derby day almost a decade ago and for those who have grown up never knowing fully what a derby really is all about. This is for every single Mackem, from Seaburn to Seattle, who has given a part of their soul in supporting this all-too-often mental football club, never knowing what was next but always believing something better was coming.
Regardless of what happens, this is the culmination of one of football’s most painful but rewarding journeys of the last 10 years. This is now a club reborn, threatening to become the beast it has always had the ability of becoming, and that should be cause for celebration. We have done the hard yards, we have endured, we have enjoyed, we have gone to the depths and risen back up, and we have done that all together. That is what makes this club so special, so unique, and so quintessentially Sunderland.
So on Sunday, let us embrace the flood of nerves and anxiety, the fear and the hope, the weight of expectation, and the rollercoaster of emotions we’ll endure from the first blow of the referee’s whistle – because Sunday is about celebrating us, celebrating being Sunderland, and giving our everything. On the pitch or in the stands there should be no doubt that everything will be given, and on both fronts we will give the best version of ourselves, the version of Sunderland that is not afraid, will not be intimidated, and will not be asking the all-too-often-asked question of “why us?” but instead asking “why not us?”.
So for the first time in the league for nearly a decade, sing your heart out for the Lads, trust in Le Bris, puff your chest out, and whatever the result stand on your principles and be unapologetically Sunderland ’til I die.
