So here we are again. For the second time in four seasons, Sunderland stand on the threshold of a potential return to the Championship.
They head to Wembley for this weekend's League One play-off final against Wycombe Wanderers determined to lay to rest the ghost of their 2019 defeat against Charlton Athletic. And, for good measure, to exorcise the spectres of their two previous play-off disappointments at the old national stadium in 1998 and 1990, along with the semi-final phantoms of 2021, 2004 and 1987.
Around 44,000 Sunderland fans will pack the West End of the ground praying that this time things will be different, and the club's 35-year wait for a play-off victory will end. And that in the process, Sunderland will draw a line under the four-year stay in League One that unquestionably represents the club's nadir.
