ON days like yesterday, you can’t help wonder what would happen if Sunderland were to follow Newcastle United and Middlesbrough’s lead and qualify for Europe. Even if they were to be handed a Europa League qualifier in some Azerbaijani village, you suspect Wearside would be empty come kick-off time.

This summer’s pre-season schedule has made huge demands of supporters of Newcastle and Sunderland in particular, with both clubs heading to North America for a gruelling, not to mention money-sapping, three-game tour.

Yet hundreds of supporters from both teams made the trek across the Atlantic, and as pre-season ended with Sunderland in Germany yesterday, around 1,000 more passed up the chance of a family holiday to head to Hannover in support of their team. Or to be more precise, to sample some liquid German hospitality with a football game thrown in for good measure.

“I fancied this one from the moment it was announced,” said Tom Moore, a 25-year-old fan from Durham. “You can never expect too much from Sunderland, but at least if they’re playing in Germany, you know the beer’s not going to let you down.”

And it helps when Hannover decide to host English opposition on the same weekend as the giant park that adjoins their stadium is transformed into the venue for Machseefest, a huge open-air beer and food festival. The only surprise was that so many Sunderland fans made it across the road for the start of the game.

The Northern Echo:

“It’s a bit different to going to Palace in the middle of November isn’t it,” said Dave Todd, who gets to about half of Sunderland’s away games over the course of a season. “People ask why you’d want to spend your weekend trekking to Germany to watch your team, but when you spend half the year travelling up and down the motorway anyway, you might as well try something a bit different.”

The cost of watching football is a hot topic at the moment, and while Sunderland fans will be paying around £30 a game to watch their side at the Stadium of Light next season – a price that is actually pretty competitive in terms of the rest of the Premier League – Hannover fans have just paid around €180 for a season ticket for next season. Oh, and they get free match-day travel thrown into that too.

With that in mind, isn’t it an extravagant extra expense to head to the continent on the weekend before the start of the season? It probably depends on how you got there.

One fan chatting in Hannover’s old town before kick-off was regaling fellow supporters with his travelogue. A bus trip to Stansted preceded a flight to Dusseldorf because it was £20 or so cheaper than flying there from the North-East. The only problem is that Dusseldorf has two airports, and he had to pay £50 in a taxi to get from the one he landed at to the one that was hosting his onward connection to Hannover. So much for careful planning.

His tale was hardly unique, with fans heading to Hannover via Amsterdam, Paris and all manner of connecting locations. Their stories will no doubt be regurgitated and embellished as the season continues.

Being a hardcore football fan requires a combination of endless enthusiasm and bottomless pockets, and there was plenty of evidence of both as Saturday night ended with Sunderland fans holding an impromptu singsong in the beer garden of the fittingly-named Waterloo pub.

And to think that it isn’t until Saturday that the real action begins...