The stadium was full, with more than 40,000 people, the atmosphere was boiling – the tension was such that it could be gripped by a claw of a nervous black cat or an awakened owl.It will be the same tonight: they say that all the seats are sold out, that hell awaits the guests, that 0-1 in the north of the country was just a bad day, that blood will be shed if necessary, just to get out of this damn league. It infects you like a plague if you don’t escape its tentacles…You don’t have to be very wise, or even an English football expert, to use the phrase – “they are too big to be where they are” – for Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday, rivals in the semi-finals of the League One playoffs.Mon 21:45: (2.05) Sheffield W. (3.40) Sunderland (3.70)It stands, of course. The numbers speak for themselves, tradition is quite a factor. Among the twelve largest football grounds in England, the two clubs hold two of them – the Stadium of Light and the mythical Hillsborough – each with its own ghosts, each with its own traumas, each with its own curses.The two rivals have a total of ten titles of national champions and five FA Cup trophies. More than some established Premier League clubs will win in the next century, as things stand.They also have loyal fans, great players, great coaches and great stories behind them. These are big cities that stumbled in the post-industrial era, but are still important. They have a history – oh, so much history.But – does that give Sunderland and Wednesday, the fallen giants of English sport, the right to be hopeful, or is that exactly what is holding them back? Are all of those who say that it is a “disaster”, that it is “sad”, that it is “unforgivable” that these two clubs are in the third league – right?©Gallo Images”This great club doesn’t deserve this” is a sentence that is being taken lightly, whether it is – in the past or present – Leeds, Hamburg, Derby County, Nottingham Forest, Schalke, Deportivo, Kaiserslautern, Rangers.Or maybe they do deserve it?Perhaps closer to the truth is that ‘everything that fell was prone to fall’, that just because you were once “something” not only doesn’t mean you should always be – every empire is brought to dust – but that you shouldn’t be pitied and felt sorry for, especially if you were not thrown into the mud by any accident, but you did that to yourself.Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland are where they are – and the well-known difficulties of the Championship are nothing compared to the hurdles of League One. Conditions ‘down there’ make you feel like a fish out of water and those lower tiers grab a hold of you that is hard to get rid of.A seven-goal miracle – that’s lower tiers of English football for youBuilt to be Premier League clubs, with ambitions and infrastructure uch bigger than Cheltenham, Fleetwood or Gillingham (no sidrespect) – tonight’s opponents slipped into the abyss and from there they can only sulk at those who know how to cope in these modern times.One of those two clubs will continue to simmer in the lower levels of the English pyramid for at least another twelve months; others will face another potentially horrific defeat at Wembley, against the minnows Wycombe Wanderers.If that’s not a good horror movie script, we don’t know what is…©Gallo ImagesSunderland have been so close and again so far for four years, they even had a Netflix series made about the club and their struggles to get back in the top tier. So unlucky that they never reached a higher rank in the playoffs – last year, the Black Cats were eliminated by Lincoln City. So toxic that even Roy Keane, who started his coaching career there, excluded himself from all speculations about taking over during the previous transfer window. He is also aware that something more than energy and ambition is necessary.And yes, there is more salt on all their wounds: if Sunderland were in the Premier League or at least close to it, maybe some sheik or American hedge fund could have cast an eye on them as well… Sunderland had to watch how Newcastle, their biggest rival, step into a bright future with their new owners with a promise of making a European brand out of the Magpies.The situation is quite similar in Sheffield – the Owls cannot be immune to this sort of envy. Although they are also owned by a foreigner – Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri – Wednesday would gladly trade with the red and white part of the city (Sheffield United) for their Saudi bosses.A worried Sunderland fan (©Gallo Images)Wednesday’s fall was perhaps more unpredictable and steep, but equally tragic: only a few seasons ago they played a Wembley playoff final for Premier League promotion – today they are facing elimination, especially after that tense, desperately tight first leg match three days ago against Sunderland.It will hardly be a spectacular match tonight, the stakes are simply too high, and the hope of the fans – they have never accepted reality, although it is not their task – will quickly, too quickly, turn into anger, despair and depression.And from there to another torture in League One, and from there to the self-deception that “this great club doesn’t deserve this”.
