Sunderland midfielder Pierre Ekwah has lift the lid on a 'crazy' first year in a red and white shirt after joining the club from West Ham back in January 2023.
The French midfielder has been a mainstay in the red and white starting XI this season, despite initially struggling to nail down a place following his move from the Hammers.
By his own admission, Ekwah was taken by surprise by the love he's been shown from Black Cats' supporters and he wants to repay them with promotion to the top flight.
"Yeah it's been a crazy year, so many ups and downs but I've really enjoyed every minute of it," Ekwah told Sunderland AFC. "Every emotion I went through here - I'll be forever grateful for the experience.
"It's a first experience of me feeling love from the fans, now I'm in a first-team environment that I've always dreamed of. There's no better place than at Sunderland to be honest.
"The fans are passionate and they deserve a lot. When I came, they really gave me the love, the big love - I was, first of all, surprised. They're really nice people, meeting them in the street or talking to them after games, I really appreciate all of it."
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Ekwah was mainly used from the bench after his arrival in the North-East, but made the central midfield role his own in the final few games of last season, with Tony Mowbray's side pushing for promotion. He carried on that impressive form into the current campaign but knows he can still take his game to another level.
"Luckily for me - it's always a difficult time when you come [to a new club]. I was coming from the Under-21s programme, so I had to adapt to the Championship and Sunderland.
"I did so, now I'm really pleased with where I'm at and I know I can take my game to another level and only look forward now.
"I've learned a lot. When you come through the doors, you think 'I'm going to play in the Championship' you maybe don't think you're going to learn as much. Obviously you know you're going to learn, but I never thought I'd learn this much.
"Everything opened my eyes. That's down to the people who I'm working with from the first day I came here to now, they gave me so many tools for me to get better, to use to my advantage to make myself better.
"I'm still early in my career. It's only been a year and I know that's a long time, but it's only been a year and I can only get better each day, each game and each season. I'm just thankful the people I've been working with have given me those tools.
"I think when you want to reach perfection, you've got those little details you need to check. As a group and as a club, as a team, that's where we're looking at.
"Obviously it's not going to be good all the time because that's life, it cant always be straightforward otherwise I'd say it's a bit boring, the ups and downs, a little bit of emotions and Sunderland you've got a lot! It will never be boring.
"As a team we just want to get better. It's a young squad, even the coach is giving us the tools to get better and everyone is striving for that. As me personally, of course I'm still a young player and learning each game, each month and each season. I'm really pleased to do it here."
A big character around the Academy of Light, Ekwah has praised the environment he walked into after his January arrival and says there's been no need to him to put on a façade.
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"I'm just being me," he added. "I'm just walking round being myself, which I like. Some places you have to come and put a mask on and pretend you're not that type of person but from the first day I came here everyone had open arms and was really welcoming. I was just being me. I really enjoy that.
"Sunderland have been in a great position in the past and we just want to put them back where they belong. I said that when I first came here. I just want to put Sunderland where they belong and it's definitely in the Premier League.
"We tried to do that last year and came close. We came really close but this season, there are things to achieve. Last season was last season and we're looking to really do it this season. We came close but it wasn't enough so we're working even harder to get it done this season."
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