Our Gray days have lasted far too long

MICHAEL GRAY once feared a whole generation of Sunderland followers would grow up not knowing their favourites as a Premier League side.

Now with the Black Cats battling to avoid a FIFTH year in League One, even Championship football is becoming a distant memory.

“I used to feel sorry for fans of clubs like Sheffield Wednesday, Forest and Leeds because it had been so long since they’d watched top-flight games,” said

Gray (above).

“But what’s happened at Sunderland is unbelievable. Back in my day, when we finished seventh two years in a row, it never crossed my mind that we’d be anything but a Premier League club.

“Twenty years later and we’re fighting to get out of the third tier after four years.”

Ross Stewart’s goal on Friday night gives the Black Cats a slight advantage ahead of tomorrow’s return but Mackems can claim to be among the country’s longest-suffering fans.

Five of Sunderland’s six league titles came before World War One and it’s fast approaching the 50th anniversary of their famous 1973 FA Cup win. Fourteen miles up the road, Newcastle are the wealthiest club in the world and dreaming of rubbing shoulders with Europe’s elite.

“I’d be lying if I said that didn’t hurt,” said Gray.

“But it’s good that the North East will start attracting the best players again because it’s been a long time since that happened. It would be even better if it was both Newcastle and Sunderland.

“A little bit of envy is a good thing because it will spur on Sunderland’s owner to push the club in the same direction.”