For any of you who’ve listened to our On This Week or Roker Rewind episodes of the podcast, you’ll know just how much we believe the history of the club matters. There have been so many people who’ve contributed to the story of Sunderland Association Football Club, and the ones that have played a positive role deserve to be acknowledged and remembered.
For a long time, however, the club’s often seemed a bit reluctant to outwardly celebrate our past too much.
While there was an attempt to acknowledge
the achievements of yesterday when the Stadium Of Light opened, when bars were named after former greats – followed by the installation of the Stokoe statue a few years later – we’ve seemed pretty reluctant to outwardly celebrate the club’s history.
Of course, there are reasons for that. For a few years, the club was rightly more concerned with keeping the lights on rather than shining a light on things that had happened decades ago, but now the club’s in a more healthy position, we’ve seen the past being embraced – and rightly so.
How much this had to do with David Bruce is impossible to know for sure, it’s a credible assumption that quite a lot was sparked by him. His departure was a shame from that perspective – that knowledge and connection at boardroom level is vital – and we hope that connection doesn’t disappear now he’s at Sheffield Wednesday.
However, that connection and desire to embrace the past was seen in last week’s goalkeeper kit launches. The ‘Montgomery Collection’ is a thoughtful and excellent launch, with each of the three kits commemorating our club record appearance holder. One strip is a modern take on Monty’s get up for the Cup Final, another has a pixelated image of his famous save, while the other has 627 – the number of games he played for the club – throughout it.
The launch, which follows the renaming of the West Stand in his honour, is a nice touch, while Monty is getting a statue at the back of the Roker End, too – with Monty and Bob Stokoe’s statues framing the new legend’s way.
This is all really important stuff, and I do hope it’s just the beginning. The club’s history is rich, and while 73 was a tremendous achievement and deserves to be acknowledged, there are an awful lot of people, players, and teams that came before that equally deserve to be remembered.
The more time ticks on, the more these names fade in memory, and the early managers, the league winning players and the 1937 team deserve respect and recognition too.
For example, another goalkeeper, Jimmy Thorpe, gave his life playing for the club – he’s someone who should be remembered. Raich Carter, Bobby Gurney, Tom Watson, Johnny Cochrane… the list goes on and on.
We don’t want to live in the past – and there’s plenty to be excited about and look forward to with this team and the club in the future. But understanding the past is important to tackle what lies ahead, and the more we celebrate, acknowledge, understand and embrace the story of Sunderland AFC, the better equipped we all.
Roy Keane understood it when he came to the club. Fuelled by stories from Brian Clough, he immediately put pictures up of former Sunderland greats to inspire the team, and he understood the magnitude of doing that.
The more the club makes the Sunderland Story available and easy for people – supporters and players – to soak in, the better. Understanding and celebrating our past is the foundation of a strong club. Our history is what makes the club so special; it is what makes the club what it is today – and it gives all of us the motivation to emulate and exceed what’s gone before.
So well done, Sunderland. Hopefully, this is a permanent approach to connect the club more visibly to its past, and not just a pet project of David Bruce’s that will fall by the wayside once he’s no longer at the club.
Who knows, maybe in 20 years time we’ll have a new statue of Robin Roefs outside the Stadium, resplendent in the Montgomery Collection.
Now, wouldn’t that be something?
