Watch: Tony Gillan on when the World Cup came to Sunderland in 1966

And in anticipation of cup fever, our local history boffin Tony Gillan has been down to the site of the old Roker Park football ground.

Long since replaced by the Stadium of Light as the home of Sunderland AFC, it’s now a quiet residential area.

You’d never know the neighbourhood had once hosted ‘one of the dirtiest and most violent games of football ever played’.

But that’s the passge of time for you – the goalposts just keep moving.