I really dislike Twitter or X, or whatever you want to call it, most of the time. Mostly due to the dodgy algorithms that fill my timeline. Every now and again though, it’s a glorious place. Sunday night
was one of those moments. It was rich with endorphin-laden content for any Sunderland fan. You could watch Woltemade over and over again if you wanted. You could witness the Mags melting down and calling for Eddie Howe to be sacked and chucking [insert name here] under the bus for their performances this season. You could even watch the Mags chucking tables and chairs at each other.
My favourite bit though was fans of other clubs who sat as interested spectators and heralded Sunderland fans as being the saviours of the modern game. Comments like “Football is back” and “Proper fans” coming from people with Liverpool and Man City in their bios. It’s true of course; the vast majority of that crowd were also in the crowd against Fleetwood Town, I would imagine, but it’s a consistent theme. When we played Palace away there were Palace fans on Twitter commenting on how loud our fans were, same at Chelsea. Now you could say Chelsea is hardly surprising because they never make much noise anyway, but they were comparing us to what they are used to, and that means every other club in the Premier League. The atmosphere at the derby was something else though.
There seems to be this symbiosis between pitch and terrace at the moment. A hive mind if you like. The players put their battle armour on before every game and we respond appropriately on the terraces. It’s a glorious connection and fans actually feel part of the experience rather than paying to be entertained. We need to be guarded though because it may not be like this forever. As time goes by we may, as a fanbase, be sucked into the vortex of complacency. A Forest fan commented that they too were fervent and passionate but as time has worn on that has been replaced with a bit of complacency and they aren’t as vocal as they used to be.
Premier League fanbases have become complacent and matches have become more like entertainment events. There’s a big problem with that. If you’re paying to be entertained you can complain; if you’re going to a football match as a supporter you’re rolling the dice. The match wasn’t pretty by any stretch. I would argue that with a bit of urgency around the box we could have been celebrating a much bigger win, but it wasn’t pretty by any means. Neutrals probably found it all a bit dull but we didn’t. We relished in it because of what it meant.
We watched that clock move into slow motion as it clicked and clicked and clicked for what seemed an eternity. The South Stand never paused for breath as song after song after song left many needing Strepsils today. My son stood alongside me at 15 years old and he witnessed his first-ever derby victory.
He won’t have been the only one, and I am so pleased that all of those who attended for their derby debut got to experience the fanbase at its most fervent. They get it now.
Which brings me on to the visitors. When we lost in the FA Cup there was something very odd and unfamiliar about them. It didn’t feel like a derby. No noise from the Saudi boys. For all their arrogance and posturing on Twitter they were like a mob out for a nice day at the park.
At 3-0 they should have been absolutely humiliating us from the terraces, but they weren’t.
They did on social media afterwards of course, but out there… the most they did was wave some scarves around. “That was different; this time you’ll see them properly,” I told my son. Except you didn’t. Now I get it – I’m South Stand-based and that was just a torrent of noise so it’s difficult to judge just how quiet they were, but I have asked people who were sitting in the Premier concourse and the North Stand and they concur.
Forgive me for giving any praise to them, but they really used to be better than that. I suspect the result has dislodged some of the arrogance and come the return leg the atmosphere will be very different because again there are many of them who have never felt this.
The main thrust of all of this is that there are passionate fanbases who have withered into complacency on the terraces. Possibly through an influx of football tourists.
Our unique attribute is that we are proper fans. We should never lose that.
This is Wearside – help to build the atmosphere and credit should be given to them for the part they have played in elevating our fanbase and presenting them to the world, but we as a fanbase need to keep roaring from the terraces. We need to be the saviours of modern football. Keep up the good work.
