When anyone says to me the names Norwich City and Sunderland in the same sentence I'm automatically thrown back to the spring of 1985 and the magical month of March.Of course City won the Milk Cup in that month as the two teams met at Wembley and a week earlier I was a ball boy on my 10th birthday when the teams clashed in the league - a game that ended 3-1 to Sunderland.
That season is probably my favourite ever - it really did have everything including an opening day thriller at home to Liverpool, the fire burning down a stand at Carrow Road, Norwich's 4-2 home win against eventual champions Everton, the stunning Milk Cup run including Steve Bruce's semi-final, the Milk Cup win, qualifying for Europe, getting stitched up by Coventry and being sent down and then Heysel and an end to the European dreams.
And all that was achieved while Norwich wore their gorgeous Hummel kit that really was groundbreaking as the likes of Coventry, Aston Villa and Southampton didn't cotton on to the Danish brand until after the 1986 World Cup.
For me the two games with Sunderland in March 1985 leap out in the memory bank and it's amazing that the two teams haven't met in the top flight since 1991.
Bruce brings his Sunderland side to Carrow Road on Monday night two years after he last came to the City when his second string top flight team beat Lambert's League One strugglers 4-1 in the Carling Cup.
Monday's game promises to be full of memories for me as the last time I saw these two sides clash in the top flight I was just ten and more concerned with getting home to play on my ZX Spectrum and hoping to complete the last few pages of Panini's Football '85.
I'm hoping it will be a cracking game under the Carrow Road floodlights, and with sought-after Premier League points at stake, I'm sure it will be a cracker.
My Ten Things We Now Know from the Norwich v Sunderland game will be on here on Monday night.
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