Phil Smith reflects on Sunderland’s remarkable return to the Premier League against West Ham United
A little part of me had hoped that Sunderland wouldn't ever actually have to play again.
That our very own summer of love on Wearside would last forever. That following Sunderland would be frozen in this time. Last-second winners from Dan Ballard, Wise Men Say at Wembley and signing Granit Xhaka. Every other day a new arrival on the horizon, a player you didn't know much about but who the stats folk are purring over. 'HOW have Sunderland pulled this one off?' they keep saying and you just think, more of this please.
We've had so many unwelcome, unnecessary doses of reality in recent years so can't we just bask in this warm glow a little longer? Opening day could be magic, sure, but it also had the potential to be a painful bump back down to earth.
Then something started to shift on Saturday morning. No, this is what it's all about. It’s pacing about staring at the clock, ready to go well ahead of time. It's walking to the ground and seeing red, white and now blue everywhere you go. You just know so many haven't bought one for years, but this summer they simply had to because they're gorgeous but more importantly because they are so proud to wear one. It says this is my club and we're on the rise and I'm so proud of those lads who brought this feeling back. It's googling Granit Xhaka and wondering whether it's socially acceptable to have his name on the back of your shirt and rightly deciding that it absolutely is. Watching him knock passes about and dropping the odd 'tactical foul' at just the right moment.
It's pavements all over the city centre sprawling with fans hours ahead of kick off, everyone wanting a slice of this new chapter. Not just for the football club but for the city, too. Upbeat, positive, proud. It's the little stuff that actually makes a big difference. Seeing Quinn, Sorensen, Hurley et al on the concourse walls, the starting XI flashing across the new boards round the ground, Jimmy Montgomery's name proudly adorning the stand. The stuff that it is so easy to make excuses not to do but tell everyone that you're having a go when you do.
It's an actual game of footballing breaking out, both teams trying to play and a referee able to manage it. No added time in the first half because there's been no nonsense time wasting, no ekeing out every second at set plays to slow the game down. It's that combination of trepidation and admiration when Jarrod Bowen starts to motor, skipping away from challenges like they aren't there. When Lucas Paqueta takes the ball in tight spaces and wriggles away from challenges. Knowing that this is another level and that a new generation will this season see what elite looks like, who'll reminisce about some of these players as we do about Henry, Bergkamp et al. It's that little feeling of encouragement when Sunderland start well and compete, a little flick round the corner from Eliezer Mayenda that Habib Diarra nearly scores. A welcome breather at half time and OK, that was a little nervy for a few minutes towards the end there but we're good, we're OK.
It's that little murmur of appreciation when Omar Alderete's first touch is perfect and that little ripple of oh, OK, who've we got here then. Those few seconds where he nudges forward into the West Ham half and they just back off and so he whips the cross in. Those few glorious seconds when Mayenda nods it towards the far corner and the goalkeeper scrambles but you just know he's not going to get there. Graham Potter quite rightly fumes afterwards because he says Mayenda is no Niall Quinn and this shouldn't happen with three centre backs in the box but that's the thing about Eli, he just makes things happen that shouldn't. It's the Stadium of Light shaking, this place once again a place of possibility, just as it was when it first opened all of those years ago. It's every stand signing Mayenda's song but at different times and speeds, a bit of a mess but also beautiful. It's Dan Ballard running it back, extending this run of iconic performances. It's Enzo Le Fée being deployed as an impact substitute, a sentence that would have been laughable even six monthjs ago. Wilson Isidor chilling by the corner flag after another breakaway goal, a little reminder that change doesn't mean Sunderland can't keep the magic of last season alive. The cheeky olé's as stoppage time winds down and the full time singalong that leaves you with goosebumps. Sunderland’s biggest win on opening day since 1974.
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It's staying out that little bit longer, making sure every play and every second has been analysed. Just drawing this beautiful day in our city by the sea out for as long as possible. Knowing you can tune into the Match of the Day and relive it all over again. Seeing Sunlun are first and basking in the praise of the neutrals.
Stay humble and reset was the message in the dressing room afterwards, not just from Régis Le Bris but also from Xhaka. No one is kidding themselves that this was a dominant performance, or that hard afternoons don't lie ahead. Sunderland took their opportunity here and have given their season a vital kickstart. It won't always be like this and that's ok. It has been a long old road back. This day was 3,009 in the making and it was perfect.
They say the journey is often better than the destination and that might still prove to be the case. But this? This felt like paradise.
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