On this day in 1990, Swindon Town beat us at Wembley. However, in strange circumstances, we still went up. This was much to the fury of Newcastle United, which made it even sweeter. The 1990 play-offs were our first experience of a ‘real’ play-off after the bizarre structure three years earlier. Semi final, home and away, and then a trip to Wembley. At the beginning of the year, we’d have taken your hand off to just reach the play-offs but an improvement in form saw us win eight out of 12...

On this day in 1998, Sunderland were defeated on penalties in the First Division play-off final at Wembley ,after a 4-4 draw with Charlton Athletic. It is widely considered one of the greatest play-off finals in history but it's not remembered that way by those on Wearside. Our first season at the Stadium of Light hadn’t really gone as planned, as getting relegated just before it opened didn’t provide the most auspicious of starts. As such, we kicked off the 1997/98 season in the...

You pull back the curtains And the sun burns into your eyes You watch a plane flying Across a clear blue sky This is the day your life will surely change This is the day when things fall into place At the culmination of a season that became a success a couple of months ago, it would be easy to say “job done, sit back and enjoy the day”...but let’s not do that. Let's get carried away, man. Stay up. Tick. Beat the mags. Tick. Beat them again. Tick. Europe? Why not, and if not, let’s finish on a...