Could Sunderland be about to be promoted by mistake? For a long time, it has felt as though no matter what they did, it would all go wrong. Relegations, defeats at Wembley, misfortune with average points, pratfall after pratfall.
“Why,” as one tearful fan filmed for the Sunderland Til I Die documentary asked as she left the 2019 playoff final defeat to Charlton, “can it never be us?” Except suddenly it looks as though it might be. Unexpectedly and almost despite themselves, it looks as though the rise that began with victory over Wycombe at Wembley last year might be about to continue.
