As other have suggested here it doesn't matter if you can win a derby or not because if you lose Sunderland fans will claim it is not a level playing field so the result does not count/does not matter, and in doing so have convinced themselves that it is a no-lose scenario for Sunderland. Of course should you scrape together a win it will claimed it as the biggest underdog victory since David vs Goliath.
The more interesting question (and the one I eagerly await seeing answered) is how will you do against all the other Premier League teams?
I have been reliably informed on this forum that this season the PL is terrible and NUFC are only 3rd because of a combination of luck and everyone else being crap. Of course this is not true, the only team that is really significantly underachieving is Chelsea. Citeh continue to be Citeh, Arsenal and Man U are both having their best season in years. Liverpool started badly but look strong again now, Spurs are as consistently inconsistent as ever. And now there is NUFC, Brighton and Villa who can compete with these teams. So the fact is the PL is in fact more competitive then ever before.
I am pretty sure that if Sunderland get promoted this season the standard of the PL will have miraculously improved over the summer and next season no one will be saying the PL is crap because it become impossible to make that argument when you are getting hammered by Brentford (yet another good team)
The reality is you are not just far behind Newcastle, you are far behind all the teams in the PL and need at least about 8 players to have any hope of staying in the PL. The choice that the club will be faced with will be either doing what Forest did and bringing in lots of players in a gamble to stay in the PL, or playing safe thereby virtually ensuring relegation.
The more interesting question (and the one I eagerly await seeing answered) is how will you do against all the other Premier League teams?
I have been reliably informed on this forum that this season the PL is terrible and NUFC are only 3rd because of a combination of luck and everyone else being crap. Of course this is not true, the only team that is really significantly underachieving is Chelsea. Citeh continue to be Citeh, Arsenal and Man U are both having their best season in years. Liverpool started badly but look strong again now, Spurs are as consistently inconsistent as ever. And now there is NUFC, Brighton and Villa who can compete with these teams. So the fact is the PL is in fact more competitive then ever before.
I am pretty sure that if Sunderland get promoted this season the standard of the PL will have miraculously improved over the summer and next season no one will be saying the PL is crap because it become impossible to make that argument when you are getting hammered by Brentford (yet another good team)
The reality is you are not just far behind Newcastle, you are far behind all the teams in the PL and need at least about 8 players to have any hope of staying in the PL. The choice that the club will be faced with will be either doing what Forest did and bringing in lots of players in a gamble to stay in the PL, or playing safe thereby virtually ensuring relegation.