Loyal fans and huge potential, surely one day all will come good

It was another disappointing night at the Stadium of Light for Sunderland fans last week when they turned out in force to see the Under-23s crash to defeat in their cup final against Porto.

Of course it is an achievement in itself to get to any cup final, but once there, you at least want to compete.

Unfortunately, Porto were a class above and it will be interesting to see how far players from both clubs go in the game.

Because that is what it is all about at youth level, trophies are all well and good but any coach, and I’m sure Elliott Dickman will agree, would say producing a conveyor belt of talent through to the first team is the main job.

Trophies come quite a distant second.

I still remember my own youth team days when we all had stars in our eyes and how difficult it can be and that is why I still get a kick out of young players coming through and why it is important those youngsters who were taught a lesson by Porto learn from it.

In 10 years’ time a long career at the top level will be far more satisfying and rewarding than a winners’ medal at Under-23 level.

The other remarkable thing about the night – other than the scoreline – was that after a horrendous season nearly 20,000 Sunderland fans still turned out to support what hopefully will be tomorrow’s stars.

It just shows the fans’ loyalty, but also underlines the huge potential of Sunderland football club and hopefully somebody, some day, must surely get it right and turn potential into reality.