Alex Neil walking out before the end of August. Ross Stewart sidelined for at least six weeks. Ellis Simms injured, leaving the club with no fit strikers. It sounds like a Sunderland fan's worst pre-season nightmare, rather than the present-day reality on Wearside.
And yet despite all that here the Black Cats are, fifth in the table going into October, 15 points already on the board, and producing performances under new boss Tony Mowbray that have made their supporters proud. Ten games into the season, and as the Championship pauses for the international break, it is time to take stock of what has been a remarkable start to life back in the second tier.
After all, it is only four months ago that Sunderland won promotion via the play-offs amidst joyous scenes at Wembley, having finished fifth in League One. The step up to the Championship was viewed with a mixture of excitement and trepidation, a sense of possibility but also of danger.
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It is that tension than meant no-one within the club has been willing to talk in terms of this being a season of consolidation, whereby the only objective would be survival, nor to put a ceiling on their ambition. Slipping back into League One was unthinkable, but surely attacking the top end of the table was unlikely.
Yet at this, admittedly early, juncture, Sunderland are much closer to the latter than the former. That is a major achievement, especially given the fact that Sunderland had an early setback when Neil - last season's hero when he took charge and led the club to promotion - departed.
To then lose their talismanic top scorer Stewart to injury, and for Simms to have picked up an injury problem of his own, makes Sunderland's present position all the more impressive as squad members have stepped up to the plate, and the young talents added over the summer such as Jewison Bennette, Amad Diallo, Abdoullah Ba, and Aji Alese, begin to bloom. Sunderland's record so far reads four wins; three draws; three defeats.
And it has been far from an easy start. They have played seven of the current top ten, including top two Sheffield United and Norwich City who were always expected to be amongst the favourites for promotion, and third-placed Reading, who have been a surprise package after surviving only by the skin of their teeth last season.
They have also come up against Watford, who were playing in the Premier League last season along with Norwich, and QPR, Rotherham United and Bristol City, all of whom are in the top ten along with the Black Cats. Lower down, they have faced midtable Stoke City - Neil's new employers - and two of the bottom three in Coventry City and Middlesbrough, the latter of which had been expected to be among those challenging at the top end of the table.
Reading were brushed aside with ease 3-0 last week as Sunderland ended the Royals' 100 percent home record. Rotherham were dispatched in similar fashion at the Stadium of Light.
Stoke were beaten on the road in what turned out to be Neil's last game in charge before switching sides, while they earned their first win at Bristol City in early August. Sunderland might have had a fifth win had they been able to hold on to their two-goal lead against QPR on Wearside, but a dramatic late fightback meant they had to settle for a point.
Coventry also scored late in the game to salvage a draw at the Stadium of Light on the opening weekend. And on Saturday, it was Sunderland's turn to show their fighting spirit as they twice came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw at Watford.
Even the defeats have not left Sunderland fans downhearted. No-one has put the Black Cats to the sword. At Sheffield United, there was little between the sides before Dan Neil's red card left his side to play the final hour shorthanded, and the Blades went on to win 2-1.
Then Sunderland could easily have beaten Norwich at home, twice hitting the woodwork before eventually conceding the decisive goal. At the Riverside Stadium, Boro won a tight game by a single goal.
The point of recapping the games so far is not to ponder the ifs, buts, and maybes - that is a fool's errand. However, the fact that Sunderland are looking back at the points they have dropped, against QPR in particular, rather than counting up their lucky breaks and wondering if they are currently in an artificial position, speaks volumes.
It demonstates that Sunderland are more than holding their own at this level. There is still a long way to go of course - the season is not yet a quarter of the way through - and nobody will be getting carried away just yet.
But it is only possible to judge on the available evidence, and at this moment Sunderland's return to the Championship is going like a dream.
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