Forty seven years to the day since Sunderland famously beat Leeds in one of the greatest FA Cup finals of them all, the Wearsiders find themselves languishing in seventh place in League One.
And the harsh reality is that if the EFL is halted now, these fallen giants, with six top flight titles in their history, will find themselves staring at a third successive campaign in football's third tier.
When football went into lockdown, the only club in England to have won a major honour in the reign of every monarch since the sport was invented, appeared as far away as ever from reclaiming a place among the elite.
As if the prospect of no parachute payments next term – they received £15m this year – was not bleak enough, if football is to be
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