😆 "We'll win it all." William Messer's matchday experience ❤️

❤️ Congratulations to young #SAFC fan William Messer, who has been named a 2026 @WellChild Award winner after showing incredible courage, determination and positivity! safc.com/news/2026/september…

Europe, eh? For Sunderland football club and our fans, the arrival there has been a whirlwind journey of exceeded expectations, of hopes beyond hope becoming realities, that has taken us in, a little over four years, from playing in front of 5,831 at Morecambe to a potential 75,000 at the San Siro in Milan. I have friends who believed, in those League One days, that they’d never again see us play in the Premier League in their lifetimes, and that seemed a mindset that was less morbid than realistic. Yet here we are. Our last European adventure had us as the plucky underdogs who’d qualified by winning the FA Cup - much like Torreense this time around - but this time we’ve done it by maintaining our form over a full League season and by being what looks like an established top-flight side. Almost too good to believe, but it’s here and we’re going to enjoy it. We’ve done a pretty good job of being part of the showbiz of the Premier League, of the necessary financial micromanagement, of promoting the club abroad - to the extent that a European competition seems a natural part of our journey. As the club has progressed over recent seasons, so the city has redeveloped to become a great mixture of impressive new architecture and that of preserved and renovated historical nature. SAFC has always been a club of the people - the County Durham club, the club, the club that reflected the fortunes of the city and vice versa, and that could not be more true today. It’s time to show Europe that’s what we’re all about. Football on Wearside has always been a form of release after a week’s hard graft in the shipyards, the glassworks, or down the pits across the county. A chance to forget the daily grind and join your marras in a few hours of escapism - put the world to rights over a couple of pints then focus your energy on roaring the Lads on to victory. It’s happened for generations, and it’s not going to change even if the nature of the daily grind and the football venue have. For coal, glass, and ships read motor manufacture and service industries, for Roker Park read the Stadium of Light. ✍️ @ALS_Fanzine