When Sam Allardyce was appointed as the club’s manager in October, it was widely presumed that Sunderland would soon pull away from the bottom three and edge towards the relative sanctuary of lower mid-table.
Allardyce’s track record in the top flight made him the perfect man for the job.
Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United all consolidated their position in the Premier League under his guidance, with Allardyce even leading the Wanderers into the Uefa Cup in 2005.
Three months into his latest spell of employment at the Stadium Of Light and the 61-year-old’s proud record of never having been relegated from the Premier League is under severe threat.
Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Liverpool leaves Sunderland second-bottom with 12 points, seven behind 17th-placed Swansea City.
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No team with an equal or worse tally at this stage of the season has survived the drop since West Bromwich Albion in 2004/05.
In truth, most of the damage had been done before Allardyce’s arrival.
Sunderland have flirted with demotion to the second tier for years now.
They have finished the last three campaigns in 16th, 14th and 17th, with each season following a remarkably similar template: a bad start has been followed by a disappointing middle, only for Sunderland to rescue themselves in dramatic fashion with a new manager at the helm.
There has been a lack of direction at boardroom level and a failure to come up with a coherent, long-term plan.
Large sums of money have been splurged on a variety of different players, with many bought by one manager and then dropped or discarded by his replacement.
For all of the capital invested, the squad remains worryingly low on quality.
Sunderland are not down yet, but if they fail to pull off another miraculous escape act this term they only have themselves to blame.
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