An investor in Premier League club Burnley has hailed Sunderland as ‘pretty crazy’ following their years on Netflix.
Sunderland have endured a turbulent decade or so, spending several years battling relegation until they finally dropped down to the Championship in 2017.
Unfortunately for supporters, production company Fulwell 73 then captured all the action and drama as they suffered a second relegation to League One, before having three attempts before they were finally promoted once again.
The first couple of seasons of Netflix’s Sunderland ‘Til I Die documentary showed the highs and lows (mostly just lows) of Chris Coleman’s rein, Stewart Donald’s costly pursuit of Will Grigg and three disastrous trips to Wembley Stadium.
Charlie Methven became a meme, Coleman was remembered for declaring that he was a ‘married man with six kids’, and Donald was confirmed about as useless and fans already believed.
This year’s latest series was much more upbeat though as the Black Cats won the play-off final, though Sunderland’s success probably wasn’t the reason why many football fans outside of Wearside enjoyed it so much.
Sunderland ‘Til I Die was ‘wildly interesting’
One man who found Sunderland’s downfall ‘wildly interesting’ is former NFL star and Burnley investor J.J. Watt.
Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast, the American said: “Sunderland Til I Die is one of the best things I’ve seen.
“It is so good and those types of documentaries and that one specifically was really really good has done wonders in getting Americans more interested because that’s some of the stuff they talk to me about most.
“That song at the beginning of the show is brilliant and that club, like watching that show is wildly interesting for many reasons but just because of some of the stuff that they’ve been through. It is pretty crazy.”
Football fans enjoyed Sunderland’s misery more than their success
I’m a Sunderland fan and I still found the first two series of the documentary unbelievably entertaining.
It’s different sitting at home or going to the games and wondering why are owners are/aren’t making certain decisions, or what the players are thinking when we get pummelled week in week out.
By the time the documentary came out, I feel like a lot of fans had become almost numb to the pain and misery that had come with supporting Sunderland. I felt like I could shut out all that when watching it back and instead see it as ‘wildly interesting’ as J.J. Watt thinks it was.
The third series was certainly much more satisfying for those on Wearside though, because as soon as the Black Cats actually start to do well, I imagine a lot of people outside the region aren’t quite as entertained.