Sunderland til i die. In ‘Sunderland ’Til I Die,’ the Misery of Watching Your Club Go Down 2019-12-13

Sunderland 'Til I Die (TV Series 2018

Martin Bain, the chief executive charged with doing the dirty work of owner Ellis Short, is a mixed bag; you get the sense of the task facing - and weighing on - him, but he also never comes off as likeable. Great insight into how the club was at the time run and the knock on effect the mistakes have on a fanbase that has been made to suffer for many years. The values my granddad had are ones I strive to maintain and I know many in the city do too. The reason you dare to dream, keep the faith, and know that things can only get better. This doc is filled with it. Like, right now, if you can. Simply put, this documentary connects you with the management, the players, and most importantly, the die hard fans and community of Sunderland.

Review: Sunderland ‘Til I Die Is A Powerful & Poignant Netflix Documentary

You get the sense that Fulwell 73—the company, owned by Sunderland fans, that produced the series—had a rough plot in mind when it started out. This part of the documentary I found to be particularly eye-opening as you realise just how much football really is a results business and there is no time to waste. A compelling fly-on-the-wall 8 part documentary on the 2017-2018 season of sleeping north-eastern football giant Sunderland, just newly relegated to the English Championship League. Deadline day, the politics, the prep work, player apathy etc. Producers have done very well portraying the good and bad points of a football club. Sunderland were relegated from the Premier League after the 2016-17 season, and then relegated further after finishing dead last in the Championship in the 2017-18 season.

Sunderland 'Til I Die (TV Series 2018

But, pretty quickly I began to really sympathise with the staff and fans affected by such an awful season. . Many clubs should get back to basics and put the fan at the heart of everything. We never, for example get inside the team's dressing room on match day or see managerial team talks discussing player performance or team tactics. The filming are very beautiful and the reel emotions of fans, players, managers, staff and so on, are so heart-felt that I sat with a tear in my eye multible times. Sunderland comes accross as a real community club unlike many others who see fans as 'customers' imagine old trafford, Anfield etc with no fans inside on a match day.

In ‘Sunderland ’Til I Die,’ the Misery of Watching Your Club Go Down

With full access to the club and players, the documentary takes fans into the heart of the club as we faced the challenges of our first season back in the Championship. For Grayson, however, the hit show has put an unwanted spotlight on his short and ill-fated reign in charge at the Stadium of Light. Any British football fan will enjoy this. The way the season unravels creates some of the most dramatic moments you will watch in a show, you'll scarcely believe what happens moment to moment. However, he only last four months in the job and was sacked in October with the Black Cats second from bottom in the table, being replaced by Chris Coleman — who could not save the club from relegation.

Our fly on the wall docuseries

The passion of the fans is unsurpassed, and the only thing one might compare it to in America is the dedication of Cubs and Red Sox fans before they finally won their first series. A show we football fans can relate to. This was a great doc and I watched it all over a couple of days. I grew up in an atmosphere filled with sports. I really, really hoped for a win because I was so drawn by everything in this series. A string of poor results, injuries, unsettlement within the organisation and a lack of financial investment from the owner lead them in a fierce relegation battle.

Review: Sunderland ‘Til I Die Is A Powerful & Poignant Netflix Documentary

We would have been interested to explore someone like Jack Rodwell's story a lot deeper. A team playing poorly, a team frustrating it's fans - and what passionate fans. Whereas with Darron, when he gave that simple explanation and apology about his drunken slur at the beginning of the year, it showed a different side to him. It doesn't matter what team you support, the show will have you cheering alongside the fans, the manager and even the chefs. For as much as they're not comfortable being filmed, you'd rather not be documenting that.

Sunderland 'Til I Die Series Review

I mean, peep the intro. He is involved in emotional scenes when discussing his mental struggles with a sports psychologist. But the idea that 99% of them were against it doesn't really work because most of them would be doing stuff with us individually and talking to us about what was going on, although some players made it very clear that they didn't want to be part of it. You wonder if they could have got a Match of the Day producer to help edit them in a more coherent way. If you look at both of them, they both had tough seasons and fans completely dismissed them. Sunderland of course lose the game in question in the most soul-crushing way imaginable, and still the fans hope beyond hope.

Our fly on the wall docuseries

I'm so glad I did. Nevertheless this series are just great. The documentary, made by production company Fulwell 73 who hail from Sunderland themselves , is a rarity amongst sporting documentaries, in that it truly understands what it means to be a fan. Did you experience much resistance from the players? I was overwhelmed the song was chosen to be the theme to the documentary. The highlight of the series was the intimate stories with the supporters. It was just two individuals throughout a whole year of 50-odd games and at that moment tensions spilled over and they took their frustration out on us. They are interesting and special characters and it's been amazing.

Sunderland ‘Til I Die: Former manager Simon Grayson unhappy about how he was portrayed in Netflix documentary

And the song that perfectly sets the tone for the series in its opening scene could rocket to number one in the charts. Chief executive Martin Bain featured heavily and left the club after relegation. The best thing about it for me as a football fan was a real look behind the scenes as to what goes on at a football club other than the 90mins. Sunderland technically have more top-flight titles than Manchester City, but the last one came in 1936. Pre-season occurs, showing the optimism and positivity around the club despite the events that happened the year prior. But despite it examining such a dark period for the fans and staff of the club, it somehow encapsulates what the club means to the City perfectly. As a point of disclosure, it took me a few tries to get through.

Sunderland ’Til I Die, and the plight of the merely

Simon Grayson started the season in charge but was sacked in October. Of course there's some dilution of the events depicted. Far more enjoyable than the man city documentary - what's the fun in a team that wins everything! I sort of compare how he comes across in the show to Darron Gibson. They'll offload them if they're not performing. It had me watching the full series within a day due to the addictiveness of each episode. Newly relegated from the Premier League and hoping to make a swift return, the Black Cats instead went through two managers and a change of ownership on the way down to League One. Viewers were so touched by Shipyards that they flocked to buy it online.