Football fans around the world will know Sunderland from the Netflix series 'Sunderland 'Til I Die', a documentary aimed at capturing a first-time return to the top flight following relegation to the Championship - only to film a second successive relegation to League One.
The show continued for their first campaign in the third tier - again hoping to show the club's rise to automatic promotion, only for the Black Cats to fall short. Eventually, it returned for a third and final season to show the club's promotion back to the Championship in 2022.
Since then, Sunderland have finished a promising sixth (and lost in the playoffs) and a disastrous 16th last season which left supporters feeling that the club had taken a major step backwards.
This time around they have taken everyone by surprise under the guidance of relatively unknown manager Regis Le Bris, powering up to fourth in the table and establishing themselves as promotion contenders - but how have they done it?
A refined transfer policy
One of the most infamous scenes from the documentary was former owner Stewart Donald scrambling to sign experienced striker Will Grigg on January deadline day, eventually completing the deal reportedly for a then-league record £3 million. He would score eight goals in 62 games before leaving for free.
That sort of business has gone out the window under new owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, with Sunderland mostly only paying fees for players aged 22 or under and complementing that with rare experienced signings on free transfers.
Several top youngsters arrived and developed through this policy including Trai Hume, Jobe Bellingham, Dennis Cirkin and Dan Ballard, who are now among the league's best in their positions, as well as Jack Clarke, who was recently sold for a reported £13.5m.
Alongside them are academy graduates Anthony Patterson, Dan Neil, Tommy Watson and Chris Rigg, to form a solid albeit young team - the average age of the squad last season was just 22.2 (it's now 23.8, still the youngest in England's top two leagues).
That worked well for a while but last term saw its first real problems as a lack of 'know-how' across the pitch led to a slump in performances and results.
This season, the Black Cats have rectified the issue by adding experienced heads in Chris Mepham and Wilson Isidor (loans), as well as Alan Browne, Aaron Connolly and Simon Moore (frees), who have over 1000 senior games between them.
A new look to the squad has helped Le Bris' side mount a serious promotion push with the aforementioned young players now coming into their own after a couple of years of development while the new senior additions allow for a bit more tactical nous across the board - mistakes seen in the past have so far not been repeated.
Quick out of the blocks
Sunderland started the campaign in red-hot fashion, winning nine of their first 12 league games while maintaining the best-attacking record in the division at the time (they're now fourth-best).
Central to that was a relentless press, led initially by young forward Eliezer Mayenda, which saw big wins against Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth before the Spaniard picked up an injury.
That resulted in the introduction of Isidor who has been more effective in front of goal but perhaps doesn't press as well as Mayenda - causing a slight change in style.
More crosses go into the box for the 6'1" striker which isn't always effective, but his instinctive movement creates opportunities for himself and others that aren't always there with Mayenda starting.
Isidor is the team's top scorer with five goals and has netted a variety of strikes, from poachers' instinct finishes to acrobatic volleys.
The goals are spread out well across the team with 17-year-old Rigg also contributing as well as Bellingham, Romaine Mundle and several others - Sunderland have had 14 different goalscorers this season, the second most in the league.
Their defence is also a key factor with Hume, Cirkin, Mepham and either Ballard or Luke O'Nien all contributing to 10 clean sheets.
Perhaps the most promising aspect of the squad, though, is the midfield trio of club captain Neil alongside Bellingham and Rigg.
The three players have an average age of 19.6 and have all stood out at different points across the campaign, often getting the better of far more experienced opponents.
Rigg and Bellingham in particular are touted for future success at some of the world's biggest clubs - with Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United among the sides to have reportedly scouted the youngsters.
Correcting a minor slump
Sunderland's form has dropped off slightly with only two wins in their last nine fixtures - although equally as important is just one loss in that time.
That could be put down to players tiring due to a lack of rotation, which is the only real criticism of the new manager so far. Le Bris often refuses to use his bench or make major changes to the team unless forced by injury.
The Frenchman has never used all five substitutions available to him and has only ever used four subs on five occasions - which is perhaps a hangover effect of the club's previous insistence on signing only young players.
"So far we didn’t use our five substitutions so much and I think this is because we have had talented players who are not yet quite ready for this level of competition," Le Bris admitted.
"Here, we have so far had a strong core of 11, 12 players then younger players who are very talented but who are not yet at the same level because of their inexperience."
With January around the corner and several first-team players set to return from the treatment room, another upturn in form could be coming.
An age-old adage in football is if you can't win, don't lose, and Sunderland have stuck to that in recent weeks - and if their squad starts to get a bit thicker, niggling draws could start turning into important victories.
There's still a long way to go and some fierce competition in the form of Leeds, Sheffield United and Burnley, but things seem to be starting to click for the Black Cats.
Sunderland are next in action against Norwich on Saturday, December 21st.