I couldn’t help but look back to another season when Black Cats fans were in dreamland, in 1973.
Bob Stokoe’s team had won the FA Cup and beaten Vasas Budapest in the first round of the European Cup Winners Cup.
Next up were Portugese giants Sporting Lisbon and the visitors mixed with locals while they stayed at a hotel in Peterlee, before taking in Sunderland in a pulsating tie at Roker Park this time 52 years ago.
Relive the occasion in these Sunderland Echo photo memories.
5. The Sporting Lisbon team stayed in Peterlee before their European Cup Winners Cup tie with Sunderland in 1973.
The Sporting Lisbon team stayed in Peterlee before their European Cup Winners Cup tie with Sunderland in 1973. | se
6. Out for a walk
Sporting Lisbon players enjoy morning sunshine outside their Peterlee hotel. | se Photo: Sunderland Echo
7. Inside the hotel
Sporting Lisbon players signed autographs for the local children. Tell us if you were one of them. | se Photo: Sunderland Echo
8. Match action
Dave Watson and Billy Hughes in the thick of the action against Sporting Lisbon. | se Photo: Sunderland Echo