Leos behind the idea
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Co-CEO @ Fulwell Entertainment | Non Exec Director @ Sunderland Football Club | TV & Film Investment. All views expressed on this site are my own personal opinions and do not reflect the position of Fulwell Entertainment
2h •
Today marks 29 years since the final game at Roker Park, a ground that was home to for 99 years.
My first experiences of football were there, stood on the Fulwell End with my dad & grandpa. That’s where my education began, not just about football, but about identity, belonging & legacy. Stories passed down like inheritance: the Bank of England team, Shackleton, Carter, Hurley, Marco, Benno, Bally, Quinn… names that weren’t just players, but markers in time.
The title in ’36, the cup run in ’73, promotions, relegations, highs that lifted a city, lows that tested it. All of it part of the same story.
Fast forward to this past Saturday at the Stadium of Light & I walked away disappointed with a point against . Read that again, disappointed!
“Stay humble,” as Granit says & he’s right, but it’s hard to ignore what we all witnessed over those 90 minutes. A newly promoted side playing one of the ’s greatest institutions off the park. We controlled the game, limited them to almost nothing until the final moments & on another day could easily have scored three. In midfield, we dominated, up front, we caused constant problems.
That feeling, that a draw against Manchester United is a missed opportunity, is the clearest marker of how far we’ve come, & how quickly. Which is also exactly why today matters, because progress without perspective is fragile.
Yes, we should celebrate where we are, the trajectory, the ownership’s commitment. Including further investment into the Stadium of Light this summer, with match day & fan experience rightly at the top of the agenda. But we should also take a moment, a real one, to look back.
Roker Park wasn’t just a stadium, it was our ancestral & spiritual home. The place that shaped generations of supporters, families, & a city’s sense of itself. Remembering that isn’t nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake, it’s grounding & it’s context. It’s a reminder that what we’re building today only has meaning because of what came before.
That’s why I’m with the fans on this & I’m sure the club will be too. Let’s mark the moment, let’s mark the past, let’s mark the journey, by marking the place.
A plaque, right there on the centre spot.
A permanent reminder that before the future, there was Roker. Only by truly knowing where you’ve come from, can you hope to understand exactly where you’re going.
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