Advertising hoardings dotted around Sunderland are adorned with enticing images of long sandy beaches and invite visitors to embark on adventures in “our city by the sea”. It is all part of an £80m project intended to reinvent and regenerate the post-industrial riverside area around the Stadium of Light but West Ham had evidently not bargained for this rejuvenation extending to the football team.
As the second half unfolded, an exhilarating afternoon that exceeded the wildest dreams of even the most optimistic Sunderland fans became not so much an adventure as an ordeal by the North Sea for West Ham’s manager.
