I'm loving life as a Sunderland fan right now - and an ex-Celtic maverick is leading the Wearside rebirth

As I traipsed out of the ground, an older gentleman patted my head and advised me that I didn’t know how lucky I was to be watching a team which included a striking duo as deadly as Niall Quinn and Kevin Phillips. “It isn’t always this good, ya knar?” he bellowed in the distance, his broad Mackem accent soaring through the misty Wearside air as he trudged into the night. He wasn’t wrong.

Aside from those early years as a fan, supporting Sunderland has been like a battle of wits between my common sense and blind loyalty. I often wonder the man recalled the conversation, chuckling to himself, as he imagines the adult version of me scowling at the disastrous appointment of Michael Beale, those back-to-back relegations, twice breaking the lowest points total in Premier League history and playing five at the back against Gillingham.

Was his belief that ‘it won’t always be that good’ replaced by sheer horror during our four-season stint in League One? Sure, it wouldn’t always be that good, but had he have ever considered it could get so energy-sappingly bad? Maybe he had he given up, done the sensible thing of packing away the season ticket and used his money on something more worthwhile. A holiday, perhaps.

“It isn’t always this good” has replayed in my head like a mantra ever since. Long accepting he was frustratingly right, I became more concerned by the question would Sunderland ever be that good again? Fast forward three decades and ... maybe.

Buried deep in the graveyard of former footballing powerhouses, Sunderland are slowly but surely clawing their way out of the footballing wilderness. Five points clear at the top of the EFL Championship, our new French messiah Regis Le Bris has masterminded nine wins from the opening 12 games, brushed aside the parachute payment-bolstered relegated EPL sides, all while teenage wonderkids Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg are plunging experienced Championship midfielders into early retirement. The Wearside revival is current travelling at rocket speed.

The poster boy for Sunderland’s resurrection is someone who has undergone real revival himself. Ex-Celtic maverick Patrick Roberts has had a more nomadic career than most. By the age of 25, he had played for a grand total of eight clubs - six of them temporarily, just two of them permanent.

A mesmerising winger dubbed as ‘mini Messi’ in his teens, Roberts was one of Europe’s most exciting young talents when he completed the first of three loan spells at Celtic. Like many wingers, he would often frustrate but possessed eye-popping natural dribbling ability.

A success during his various stints at Celtic, he lifted seven trophies with the Hoops, but saw his career nosedive during fruitless loan spells at Girona, Middlesbrough and Troyes. When he arrived at the Stadium of Light in January 2022, both club and player were at crucial points in their story. Sunderland, who had just lost 6-0 to Bolton Wanderers, were manager-less and took a risk on a forgotten man in Roberts, while he took a risk on a forgotten club.

Two-and-half-years later and little maestro finds himself idolised once again. A key cog in the England’s highest scoring team, Roberts has netted once and assisted further three of those 23 goals. However, in truth, the maverick winger is directly involved in more than half of the team’s goals, with his master trickery often beginning each move.

One the most exciting players to don the red and white shirt in my 30 plus years of following the club, Roberts has been reborn on Wearside. Idolised by fans once again, ‘mini Messi, he is our king’ chant the fans, as he leaves yet another full-back for dead with his mesmerising close control.

He still has his critics, of course. Could he and should he played at a higher level than the English second-tier? Perhaps. There’s a reason Manchester City shelled out a reported £14million for his services as a 17-year-old. Should he score more goals than he does for Sunderland? Eight goals on Wearside indicates the answer is almost certainly yes. Roberts, like Sunderland AFC itself, will never be perfect. The charm for both is that they probably never will be.

A sleeping giant that had fallen into a League One coma, I found myself begging for that cold mid-April night draw against QPR a mere three seasons ago. As he warmed the bench in north-central France, I’m sure Roberts would have cast his mind back to days gone by too, wondering if he would ever truly enjoy his football again.

Being a Sunderland fan is as good as it has been in years right now, and at the forefront of it is a man that has mirrored its redemption with his own story. Will it last? Who knows. The rollercoaster nature of an promotion race in the EFL Championship rarely allows time for reflection. However, when we inevitably drop a point or three in the race automatic promotion and frustration ensues, it might be worth me remembering those immortal words - “it won’t always be this good”.