Sunderland’s return to European competition is not merely a sporting achievement—it is a definitive refutation of the hollow, scripted drama that docuseries like *Sunderland ’Til I Die* tried to package as entertainment. For two seasons, Netflix framed the Black Cats as tragicomic figures, a club perpetually falling through trapdoors of relegation and financial chaos. The camera loved the tears, the boardroom squabbles, the slow-motion shots of empty terraces. What it