Anth Gair says…
How excited am I?
I’ve spent the last thirty odd years suffering as a Sunderland fan — which means I, alongside the rest of you, know what the dark days look like.
League One. Phil Parkinson. The drift. The years when it wasn’t even fun anymore. So to be sitting here, on the eve of the final day of our first season back in the Premier League, talking about European football, with my two boys’ season tickets already renewed for next year? I’d never have dared write this script.
In my honest opinion,
my lads are witnessing something they’ll tell their own kids about one day.
Their very first season ticket, and they get Enzo Le Fee, Robin Roefs and Brian Brobbey. They get beating Chelsea, taking points off Arsenal, doing the Mags at St James’. Watching footballers of this ilk pull on a red and white shirt with Regis Le Bris on the touchline is something I genuinely never thought I’d see in my lifetime, and they’ll never know how spoilt they’ve been.
Chelsea are in the way on Sunday and we have to beat them. Simple as, but before anyone gets carried away, let’s keep this in perspective.
Being within ninety minutes of a European spot on the final day of our first season back is something we couldn’t have dreamt of in August. Whatever happens this weekend, this season has been phenomenal.
The forecast says it’ll be lush. The stadium will be bouncing. Forty-odd thousand in for a party irrespective of result, two lads experiencing their first end-of-season day in the top flight, and afterwards I’ll be in the Sheepfolds with a pizza and a pint, wearing whichever face the result has left me with.
Haway the Lads. Let’s have one more.
Malc Dugdale says…
This final game of the season has it all, really: a rare chance to nick European football with a solid top ten finish, a chance to do the double over Chelsea and to build on the double we already did over the Mags, who could overtake us with the wrong results, though I very much doubt that will happen.
Great weather on a long weekend, in a lovely city which is being invested in heavily, with wonderful people who love their football and their lads — and a fantastic atmosphere too. I think it’ll be a raucous cauldron of noise from minute one, and the joy and delirium will be immeasurable should the combination of the squad and the fans get this outcome over the line.
This game is also massive for me and my lad. One of the first games we shared at the Stadium of Light was the 3-2 win against John Terry’s Blues all those years ago. If this game is anything like that, we’re in for a right humdinger.
Whatever the result come around 6pm, this season can and must be celebrated.
We may not beat Chelsea, and even if we do, we may not qualify for any continental competitions next season, but come what may, this has been one of the best seasons in my lifetime of over forty five years as a fan.
Let’s get out there, give the Lads our all and clap every last one of them off the pitch at the end. None of this ‘leaving on eighty minutes’ shit. Do your job — and ‘Til The End means us, too, especially on Sunday.
After this season, the future has never been so bright and the future of top level football in the North East is veering very much toward the red and white. If you can’t get yourself up for this weekend, you need to give your head a large wobble and switch to something else.
Phil West says…
Intrigued. Excited. And eager to take a broader and longer-term view of whatever may come next — win, lose or draw.
Is this a big game? Of course, but let’s be clear: it’s also a bonus opportunity at the end of a season during which we’ve served notice of our intentions and demonstrated to the footballing world that Sunderland AFC is well and truly back.
Chelsea — an inconsistent yet talented side — are in town, and they’ll doubtless be eager to put a tough season behind them and to impress incoming boss Xabi Alonso with a solid final-day performance and victory.
Regardless of our own aspirations, we need to be aware of their ability and not fall into the trap of assuming that they’ll roll over and head for the airport without a fight. That won’t happen, and we’ll need to summon all of our street smarts, as well as every ounce of our big-game mindset and skill in order to win.
For Sunderland, this is an opportunity to make history by qualifying for European competition via our league position, but unlike those colossal playoff clashes with Sheffield Wednesday, Luton and Coventry City, our destiny isn’t solely in our hands and the potential ramifications of a defeat won’t be as seismic, and that changes the dynamic, in my view.
We need to win and hope for favours from other teams in order to make it happen, and if we fall short, it shouldn’t take the shine off what’s largely been an absolute blast of a season.
Whatever happens on Sunday and whether we leave the Stadium of Light as fans of European football’s newest upstarts or merely as supporters of a bloody good and highly competitive Premier League side, this needs to represent the next step on the journey and not the end of the journey itself.
This club should always strive for top ten top flight finishes and our efforts during 2025/2026 need to represent a baseline from which we can aim to progress even further.
I adore this team and the players that comprise it. Whatever the result on Sunday, that won’t change and nor will my growing belief that there will be more days like this to come in the years ahead.
