YESTERDAY a new, much-publicised eight-part Netflix series featuring Sunderland’s relegation season from the Championship hit the screens, and Jack Ross thinks the behind-the-scenes look could well have a positive impact on the club over the longer term.

The Sunderland Til I Die episodes which document the painstaking slide into the third tier of English football for the first time in 30 years is sure to provide a chilling reminder of how cruel football can be.

In what had hoped to have been the season when Sunderland turned things around following the fall from the Premier League, the Black Cats won just seven of their 46 matches and saw Simon Grayson soon sacked and his successor Chris Coleman follow.

Now Ross, who only took over in the summer after a change of ownership and relegation to League One, is challenged with making sure the second series – currently being filmed – finally enjoys an upturn in fortunes, believing success is achievable at the Stadium of Light.

Ross said: “Some personnel had changed but equally there are a lot of people who have remained at this club and have been here a number of years.

“They have also been here through a successful period, it shows you how sad my life is but the other night the 2014 League Cup final (against Manchester City) was on Sky, that’s only four years ago.

“It is just a reminder, I watched bits of it and it was a reminder of what the club achieved not so long ago. The people who have been here since that time have been an enormous support to me because they are good at their jobs.

“They are also very passionate about the club. The programme may allow people to see that and give them an insight into those people’s lives. The players are the only ones who see it on a match day.

“I don’t think from that respect there are too many negatives to come from it. I know some of the people from last season here are good people.”

Having the warts-and-all look at such a depressing campaign available on Netflix could actually help to put this season into context, given there is a new-look squad and approach from the top at Sunderland in League One as they prepare for today’s visit of Bristol Rovers, who on Thursday sacked manager Darrell Clarke, a former Hartlepool United team mate of Ross.

“Perhaps people will have a better understanding of the situation we came into in the summer,” he said. “If I was watching it that would probably be the most interesting aspect for me.

“If I look at other clubs and other managers, it is always very easy to make judgements in what they do, and how they do it.

“You don’t really know until you are in there, there is a lot of unseen work that goes on, a lot of challenges on a daily basis involved in trying to win games, which is where they are judged.

“It may help to grow that understanding of that roller coaster this club has been on. 2014 wasn’t that long ago and yet since then we have had two consecutive relegations and everything that’s brought with it, with the turmoil of a change of ownership. A lot has been crammed into a short space of time, turbulent times rammed into at least 24 months.”

Ross and his players are still being followed by the producers Fulwell 73’s cameras, and there was one following his every word when he chatted at the Academy of Light during his pre-match press conference.

It is something the former St Mirren manager has had to get used to.

But Ross does not think it is the start of his reality TV career.

He added: “There’s probably several other characters who will be more suited to it than I am! I am a long way off following Harry Redknapp. It’s not quite my thing.

“I am not interesting enough to be involved in that.”