They’ve had a few flirtations with success over the years, but never anything deadly serious. They even had what you might call a shot-gun love affair with glory in 1973 when they won the FA Cup (blimey, is it that long ago?)

But since then they’ve shown not the slightest intention of encouraging any resemblance of a serious courtship with either high achievement or glorious triumph.

We’re talking about Sunderland AFC here, one of the very few clubs in football today that could justifiably lay claim to that over-used acronym “sleeping giant”. A veritable Gulliver among so many Lilliputian pretenders.

'Despite their current position, there is an air of confidence about the club that says: We’re here to stay this time'


Sunderland have had their moments, most notably before the First World War, when they won the old First Division title five times, and then again for a sixth and last time in 1936. Then a huge gap in the roll of honour until that never-to-be-forgotten 1-0 FA Cup win over Leeds United in 1973.

Tap into any present-day pub conversation and chances are you’ll hear old-timers still talking about goalkeeper Jim Montgomery's remarkable double to deny Peter Lorimer, saves still regarded these days (especially on Wearside) as the greatest ever.

But Sunderland’s unwavering support makes it very easy to see why, along with their great  rivals Newcastle United, the North East is still known as the hotbed of soccer. Perhaps not in terms of trophy winning but certainly in the passionate support both teams are able to unfailingly generate.

It is not without real justification that the old Roker Roar was regarded as the most initimidating and fearful sound ever to be heard at a football ground. Many a team found their legs turning to jelly at the sheer volume of noise. Somehow, the Stadium of Light Roar doesn’t have the same ring about it.

And I cannot allow the opportunity to pass without a mention of probably the finest footballer ever to don the famous red-and-white stripes. I refer, of course, to Len Shackleton with whom I had the great pleasure of working on the Sunday People in the 70s and 80s.

Shack was an unbelievable, creative player once described as having “adhesive ball control and breathtaking body swerve.” He was the complete master and his name is still a byword in the North East. He was one of the few players who actually made the move between arch rivals – from Newcastle to Sunderland for a then record £20,500 in 1958.

But one of his greatest contributions to the game was performed not on the pitch but in his autobiography, the title of which was his nickname: The Clown Prince of Football. He dedicated one chapter to The Average Director’s Knowledge of Football – a single blank page.

But back to today, where Sunderland find themselves at the crossroads once again. Three times they have been promoted to the Premiership and three times they have been relegated. They regained their Premier League status again in May after a remarkable run of success following the appointment of Roy Keane as manager.

But once again they find themselves wallowing in the quagmire that drags so many clubs back from whence they came. This time, despite their current position, there is an air of confidence about the club that says: We’re here to stay this time.

The club’s first non-English chairman, Irishman Niall Quinn, has laid the foundations for genuine progress, and in Keane he has a manager of unbending determination, so like the man who moulded his outstanding playing career at Manchester United, Sir Alex Ferguson.

Like Ferguson, he is not afraid to upset people, to champion his players when they merit it, to slay them when they deserve it. He tells it as he sees it. Remember his verbal attack on the “prawn sandwich brigade” at Old Trafford?

Now Keano has been promised £20m for window shopping in January. Will he go for goals in the form of Nicolas Anelka from Bolton? Or will he try to shore up his defence with a move for Johnny Evans, who he had on loan from his old club for the second half of last season?

These next few crucial weeks might well herald the awakening of that “sleeping giant.”