Sunderland 'Till I Die: the Netflix series on the Black Cats' collapse

In the last years the football team documentaries' offer has grown a lot: on Netflix there are Boca Juniors Confidential and First Team Juventus, for example, while on Amazon Prime a few months has been produced a series on Guardiola's Manchester City, All or Nothing, which tells the route of the English team very closely. But compared to these, 'Sunderland' Till I Die' is something totally different: the trailer has already been released a few days and the first season, consisting of eight episodes, will be available starting Friday, December 14, on Netflix.

The Sunderland club's last season documentary has a special story: initially it was decided to describe how the Black Cats would have lived the Championship after the relegation of 2017, a well-equipped team with the clear intention of quickly returning to the top tier. But the team of the North of England has entered a negative vortex so powerful (just 3 wins on 23 home matches and a strip of 16 matches without a win between August and November) to be dragged to the bottom of the standings, and, incredibly, in League One. The second consecutive relegation, however, did not discourage the producers of the series, who equally decided to move forward, aware that this 'plan's change' would have made the product even more original and palatable.

As explained in a recent interview, the two producers (known as Fulwell73, and both Sunderland fans) said that the unpredictable trend of the season was the best way to describe all the love that supporters feel for their club: contrasting emotions like frustration for the results that are missing and the continuous support in one of the most delicate moments in history as a great proof of great attachment and mentality, beyond pure masochism. The series speaks of the pitch's episodes but focuses mainly on the desperate attitude and in the same faithful of the local community, the Sunderland fan base: nothing in common with documentaries that tell about victorious campaigns, champions and amazing goals, or boring football tactics lessons. One of the highlights of the trailer is undoubtedly the mass in which the priest also tries, through his prayers, to do something for the team, now inexorably directed towards the collapse. Something absolutely unique, but above all authentic.