Sunderland's Greatest Ever Premier League XI

Because the Black Cats have had excellent players in the past. Occasionally.

It's easy to say that the Premier League has been unforgiving, punishing, and utterly merciless when it comes to Sunderland AFC. If being relegated with the lowest ever top flight points total after a couple of gloriously successful seasons wasn't bad enough, the Black Cats beat their own pathetic record just two seasons later. In that time, the die-hard fans were forced to endure some of the worst football these British Isles have probably ever witnessed, with some of the players not fit to lace the boots of most pub team substitutes. There were some players who featured a maximum of once for Sunderland; they fall into the Nicolas Medina-Milton Nunez category. Then there are those who could play for a few seasons and still never produce a solid performance in the Jozy Altidore-Jeff Whitley camp, and then there is an entire section devoted to psychotic madmen who imposted as footballers known as the Paul McShane cluster. Because the selection is so vast, Sunderland Worst XIs are common, but let's take a few minutes to pause and remember the genuinely top class players who have plied their trade at the Stadium of Light. Peter Reid would of course be the manager for a Black Cat's Premier League XI, and now here are the players.
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Contributor

What Culture contributor. NCTJ accredited Sports Journalist. Regret-filled Sunderland AFC season ticket holder. Optimism-filled NFL fan. Lover of all things Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead & more.