Page 14 - 358264 LP231909 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 (Issue 257)

BORN IN EXILE
Who do you support? “Manchester United... Liverpool... Arsenal... Sunderland”
As a 13-year-old Sunderland fan living in Northampton growing up with mates who support Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal I often get asked why Sunderland? Well, as an 8-year-old I used to watch the big Premier League teams play and I always dreamed of going to Old Trafford.
One night my dad took me to watch Sunderland against Leicester. I walked past the turnstiles and into the away concourse.
I was instantly shocked. Sunderland fans jumping up and down singing their hearts out for the lads. It was a great atmosphere. Before that day I had never heard anyone swear. Well, that soon changed. As soon as I walked in, there was a chant about Alan Shearer.
Little did I know that that day I would see my hero. Jordan Pickford. Making saves to deny top quality Premier League opposition. Commanding the back four and demanding some quality. It wasn’t just Pickford
though, Lee Cattermole’s aggression and determination, how Jermain Defoe could make chances out of nothing and of course the Sunderland fans singing about Victor Anichebe.
After that game I would still mainly focus on Manchester United but occasionally ask what the Sunderland score was. By now Sunderland were in the Championship. When they got
relegated for a second time in two years my dad was upset, but I didn’t understand why.
In League One they started the season brightly. New manager, new owner and a new era. Of course, living in Northampton can sometimes be helpful when wanting to watch Sunderland because you don’t have to travel that far to some away games. We went to watch Coventry v Sunderland which was 30 minutes away and all the rest of the fans had travelled for four hours.
After watching Sunderland in the Premier League, Lee Cattermole was a legend to me so then watching him in League One was really cool. That game, he scored, I remember everyone went crazy.
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