Looking back and remembering is something all Sunderland fans have done more than their fair share of.
It’s been a central part of our identity for many years; at times, thinking back to a handful of decent days and nights is all we’ve really had to lean on.
When the present day involves setting the league record for lowest number of points (twice!), living in the past is often preferable. Yes, we may have been circling one toilet bowl or another year on year, but who remembers Tommy Sorenson saving
Shearer’s penalty? Quinn & Phillips? The G Force? Reidy? Promotion under Keane? and sexy Hummel/Vaux kits?
Nostalgia is an incredibly powerful tool to distract from the bad times.
Even when times were good, it always felt we were looking back over our shoulders expecting something bad to happen — and it often did. Typical Sunderland.
Whilst it’s undeniable that the club itself has been transformed over the last four years, the same can also be said about our fans.
I don’t have the word count available to accurately convey the importance of specific matches, moments and headers in off the bar against Coventry City that happened along the way. So in taking a step back and looking at the overall journey, in simple terms, there’s been far less need for us as fans to look back as the present day has been fucking class.
But as great as the here and now has been, the key point for me goes beyond specific days like Wembley last May or finishing seventh and securing Europa League football a couple of weeks back. It’s the feeling of hope — not just returning but becoming completely normalised across the entire city. It’s now our default setting.
This isn’t to be confused with blind optimism or the expectation of trophies, of course, it’s more a widespread feeling that Sunlun’ is heading somewhere significant and we’re all going along for the ride.
For generations, we waited and waited for things to eventually go wrong. Now, we’re wondering if they’ll ever stop going right.
The proof of that last point came a couple of Sundays back, when Sunderland needed to beat Chelsea, the “World Champions” (very funny), at home and hope results went their way to try and secure a European place.
Despite the stakes being so high, you wouldn’t find a single Sunderland fan that day across the city or within the stadium who wasn’t confident we’d do our bit, and that mindset translated into an atmosphere unlike any I’ve experienced. Of course we beat Chelsea. Easy meat. Typical Sunderland. A club transformed. A fanbase transformed.
You only need to look at the success Hummel have had in reviving the aforementioned sexy kits as proof of how powerful nostalgia remains, but it’s no longer the driving force when it comes to following Sunderland and it’s no longer a necessity.
We’re a club, a team, a fanbase and a city united in looking forward. We’re all futureheads.
