A PLACE IN THE SUN

Black Cats have all the ingredients to prosper on long-awaited return to the top flight

- BY IAN MURTAGH

EIGHT new signings, their transfer record smashed and more than £130million invested on a new-look squad.

Former 'Bank Of England' club Sunderland are well and truly back among the big spenders.

And yet such is the chasm between Premier League and the Championship, the Black Cats are probably facing a battle for survival to ensure their first topflight season in nine years isn't a one-off.

Such is life for promoted clubs particularly the playoff winners, who never seriously threatened the top two in the Championship last term.

Like Sunderland, both Leeds and Burnley have splashed the cash, but the bookmakers have already written off all three as relegation fodder.

History tells us they may be right - just look at last season's promoted clubs who kicked off their campaigns full of hope and anticipation but went down with barely a whimper.

It was the same 12 months earlier with only Luton putting up a fight and they're now in League One.

But there's a feeling on Wearside that this time, it could be different. The Mackem faithful are starting to believe Sunderland can buck the trend.