Today just feels different. Not just another match. Not just another team coming to the Stadium of Light.

It feels like one of those days we will all remember years from now. One of those days where you look around at your family, your friends, total strangers stood beside you singing the same songs, and realise just how much this football club means to all of us.

So line the streets. Fill the pubs. Get the scarves out the drawers and the flags out the windows. Welcome our lads home one last time this season with everything we have got. What a journey this has been.

There were times not long ago where supporting Sunderland AFC felt more like holding on than moving forward. But now there is hope again. Proper hope. The kind that gets bairns dreaming, families smiling, and old supporters remembering why they fell in love with this club in the first place.

And now comes Chelsea - a massive club, no doubt about it. But this city has something special when it comes together. Nobody can buy what Sunderland people have. The warmth. The humour. The fight. The loyalty. That feeling when the whole ground rises together and the noise rolls down from the stands like thunder.

Europe is sitting there in the distance now. Not impossible. Not fantasy. Real. And like Jim Bowen used to say on Bullseye… “here’s what you could have won.”

So do we gamble… or don’t we gamble? Me personally? I say have a right good go. Go full throttle. Leave nothing behind. Play brave. Play fearless. Attack the moment. And whatever happens after today, trust the process. Trust that there is a plan in place either way. For the first time in a long time, this club feels steady, connected and together — from the boardroom to the terraces.

Most importantly, enjoy this day. Take your kids. Hug your family. Sing until your throat hurts. Take a second to look around the ground before kick-off and appreciate what we have all got together here. These are the moments people wait years for.

HAWAWAWAYYYYYY!

'Til the end... Just the start!