TWO years ago, Sunderland was a football club in crisis.

It had lost 17 games in a row, slipped out of the Premiership, and was burdened with debts of £30m.

The fact that the club is back in the Premiership, alongside Newcastle and Middlesbrough, is great news for the North-East, where football is such an important part of the region's culture.

We are delighted for chairman Bob Murray, who kept his head when times looked bleak and took some painful decisions to ensure the club was returned to a sound financial footing. It has not been easy, with 83 members of staff having to be made redundant, but the pain was necessary.

We are also pleased for manager Mick McCarthy, who was the fans' choice after earlier mistakes over the choice of manager. He has restored pride with a combination of grit and astute wheeling and dealing.

He strikes us as a very decent man, underlined by the way he made it to last year's Local Heroes Awards, staged by this newspaper to celebrate the achievements of the stars of grassroots sport.

That night, he was booked to switch on the Christmas lights in Sunderland and could so easily have made his excuses, but got straight into his car after the switch-on and arrived at the awards in time to make the event extra special.

For a number of years, Sunderland has set the standard in terms of public relations and community involvement and a place in the Premiership is just reward.

Staying there will not be easy. But for now, it is enough to celebrate a very welcome comeback.