Stadium of Light relief
A FORTNIGHT ago, when Sunderland were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time since 1987, there seemed little consolation to offer.
As the then-manager Chris Coleman observed, it had become a club “floating aimlessly in the dark”.
And then Ellis Short did the decent thing by wiping out the debt, selling up and moving on.
There’s a long way to go before this great club is out of the dark, but it feels like they’ve been thrown a lifeboat back to the light. It may not seem so now for Black Cats fans, but bad times can change to good.
For example, the last side to suffer successive relegations from the Premier League to League One were Wolves in 2013. Five years later, they bounce back up not just as champions, but a club brimming with ambition and confidence.
As for the 1986/7 season, Manchester United sacked Ron Atkinson and hired some Scot from Aberdeen called Alex Ferguson. They didn’t do too badly.
Nor, eventually, did Manchester City who were relegated to the Second Division that year. Or Burnley, who were a game away from losing their Football League status and now head into Europe.
And, astonishingly, Coventry City, won the FA Cup. Even more astonishingly, from today’s perspective, Spurs made it through a semi-final to be beaten by them. See how easily things can change. Keep believing.