THE LOWDOWN — THE FULL HISTORY
THE FINAL DAY
Sunderland 2, Chelsea 1 settled three stories at once: it sent Chelsea to tenth, broke Brentford's heart and sent a promoted club into Europe.
THE SEASON
Sunderland spent over £110m on eight signings, including Granit Xhaka, and were tipped for relegation. Régis Le Bris built a side that feared nobody: 54 points and seventh place. Only two promoted clubs this century had gone straight into Europe; Sunderland made it three.
THE WEIGHT
The club has six top-flight titles and two FA Cups, but its last European campaign came from the 1973 FA Cup, when Stokoe's Second Division side beat Leeds at Wembley. That was 53 years ago.
THE ROAR
These fans filled 40,000 seats in the third tier. Seven years after League One, Sunderland are in the Europa League. Number 7 in THE COUNTDOWN.
MORE FROM THE COUNTDOWN
THE TERRACES — DISCUSSION
The argument also lives in the YouTube comments ↗.