Well, that was the sweetest – by far the best – of what we can still call a series of wins that Sunderland AFC has had over the other lot in the last 15 years or so.
For the last nine of those years they have tried – fuelled by a compliant local media – to belittle, to mock, to look down on us. Today was karma for those times, those times when it was so hard to keep the faith.
Through all of those years we can always say that we didn’t crave a corrupt deal to secure state ownership. What will be left
of this country if our football clubs are hawked to other countries? It is easy to forget that whilst we tumbled down the leagues 12 miles away there was shouting at shop fronts demonstrating against Premier League mid-table mediocrity. A few years on and £600m later it would seem that progress is slow.
Progress for our club over the last couple of years started slowly and make no mistake it has been a hard road not without its frustrations, but the progress in the last six months has been beyond our wildest dreams. Now that we have “played someone” and beaten them we enter Christmas as North-East top dogs on the day that we mourn a hero, the legend of Lord Gary Rowell, a footballer so cool he was way ahead of his time.
What a team this is; how we managed to sign some of these lads it is hard to fathom. But they have bought into the dream that was sold to them. They were persuaded to leave Leverkusen, PSG, Getafe, and Atlético Madrid to come and join us, Sunderland, a newly promoted team. We had a story to tell, a history to celebrate, and a dream of what might be. These lads have bought into that and are at one with us fans. This is a proper team, a team who manage to find a way – that’s what Sunderland do, that’s what we are. A lesson for others to learn from, maybe.
Granit Xhaka and Enzo Le Fée were head and shoulders above their opponents today. They dominated mind, body, and soul. Sadiki never stopped running – a constant ball of energy who couldn’t be coped with. The back four, this amazingly tough four but with great footballing ability, were never in trouble against a triumvirate costing north of £160m. Our front three plus the subs didn’t let Newcastle’s back line breathe and played with plenty of skill, plenty of ability to do enough hurt.
Every aspect of the club is working so well. Has there ever been a quicker turnaround in a football club? Who knows where we will finish this season, but the energy doesn’t look like it is leaving these lads’ legs, and the tactical supremacy that Le Bris has so far demonstrated over Emery, Maresca, Arteta, Slot, and now Howe has been masterful. All delivered without a hint of arrogance or entitlement which is so refreshing in this Premier League environment.
Every team in this league is full of good players; quality is everywhere you look, but we are now sixteen games deep into this season and that quality courses through our team too.
This is a day that will never be forgotten, the day when the ghosts of the last nine years were put to bed, the day when we stood up and went toe-to-toe and came out well-deserved winners against those who pretend they have new rivals to care about.
All on a day when we remembered Gary Rowell, a derby-day hat-trick hero from 1979, a hero, a legend, a man of supreme talent but whose humility stood so strong – a hero we are rightly immensely proud to remember.
