Sunderland ‘Til I Die: everything that is right and wrong in English football | Barry Glendenning

A sense of loss is all-pervading in a Netflix series chronicling Sunderland’s relegation into League One but, throughout, a sense of optimism shines out from most fans

It’s the hope that kills them, Sunderland fans can handle the despair. And it is a prevailing sense of hope that percolates throughout all eight episodes of a new behind-the-scenes documentary chronicling the club’s relegation to the third tier of English football last season. Throughout a preposterously chaotic campaign, even by the standards of a club that has long been considered utterly dysfunctional, Sunderland’s fans remain surprisingly upbeat despite having grown wearily accustomed to coping with apparently bottomless levels of crushing disappointment.

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