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You think that Sunderland fans have had it bad in recent years? Here are the stats to prove it

It’s not been nice supporting Sunderland in recent years, but what do the statistics tell us about just how bad things have been?

Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Sunderland v Fulham - Stadium of Light Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images

Sunderland’s Home Form (Since 2008-09)

As you can see from the below graph, we pretty much always seem to lose more than we win at home. Overall, we have won 53 and lost 74 games at the Stadium of Light during the span of 2008/09 to the current day.

Our best season for home form was comfortably in 2009-10, Steve Bruce’s maiden campaign at the club, when we finished 13th in the Premier League and Darren Bent finished as one of the top scorers in the league with 24 goals.

Since then, though, there’s been a fairly notable downturn in home form and unless there’s a serious improvement in results at the Stadium of Light soon, it’s difficult to see how we escape relegation to League One. Quite literally, our future as a club depends upon Chris Coleman and his side finding a winning formula between now and the end of the season.

So yes, our record at home is bad. Really bad, in fact - but what about the poor sods like me and you who go to the games every other week to generally see us get beat?


Sunderland’s Attendances (Since 2012-13)

This graph shows our seasonal attendance since the 2012-13 season, and it’s honestly quite remarkable just how many of the hardy souls that support Sunderland have continued to part with their hard-earned cash during what has been a thoroughly miserable period for the club.

Without looking this up, I highly doubt that there are many other clubs across Europe that are as well-supported despite witnessing next to nothing in terms of success.

Our current run of just one home win since we beat Watford in December of 2016 further stresses this point - quite how Sunderland manage to get so many people through the gate when you consider the horrendous nature of our home form is beyond explanation.


What About The Hammerings?

In the last ten seasons we’ve been on the receiving end of some savage beatings - and, just this season, we’ve lost by three or more goals in four games already.

Last season we were thumped by three or more goals on SEVEN occasions - an embarrassing statistic, four of which came at home.

Sorry for dredging up some bad memories, but read it and weep. The worst on that list? There are some pretty gruesome contenders, though the 8-0 defeat away at Southampton immediately bounces off the page.


Winless Runs (Since 2013-14)

Does it sometimes feel like we never seem to win for aaaaaaaaaages?

Aye, well... that’s cause we don’t.

Here I’ve sloshed together every winless run of more than five games that Sunderland have had since since the 2013/14 season, and it makes for the grimmest of reading.

The biggest winless run in all of that came just this season, when we went SIXTEEN games without winning, a run that stretched over three months and saw the end to the Simon Grayson reign of terror.

There’s a pattern there, if you look closely - bar last year, when we were indeed relegated, most of those runs come either at the very start of the season or the back end of the year.

Quite how we stayed up in 2014-15 is a mystery, particularly when you stare at the amount of winless runs we went on under Gus Poyet that season. Thankfully, we drew more than we lost and that coupled with a handful of wins near the end of the season saw us scrape over the line.


How Much Has Each Point Cost Us?

Horrendous financial management - coupled with poor recruitment initiatives and several managerial sackings - means that Sunderland have had to pay a hefty price for their bad decisions in the transfer market.

When you add together what we’ve spent on transfers and wages (approximately) in that time and divide it by the amount of points we’ve collected (200), it’s enough to shake you to your core.

Yep, that’s correct - Sunderland have spent £2.475 million (approximately) per point since the start of the 2012-13 season.

Value for money? I’d suggest not.


And The Rest...

I’m off to drown my sorrows.

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