For a lot of their history, Sunderland have been in the top flight or the second division but in 2018 they dropped into the third tier of English football for the first time since 1988 - and even that was just a one year stay.
This period in League One has been more prolonged but Lee Johnson will be hoping that their fourth successive campaign at this level is their last for a while.
Sunderland won't have come up against many players in their League One stint that will have had a super game against them every time, but during their Premier League and top flight days there were many who seemed to shine in every match against them.
Let's look at 10 players who seemed to have the Wearsiders' number during their times facing off against each other, with the range of players going from their most recent Premier League stay to all the way back to the 1960s!
Eriksen played against Sunderland just five times, but his goals to game ratio is a perfect 100 per cent having netted five times when he has come up against the Black Cats.
All of those matches were for Tottenham Hotspur, starting in 2014 where scored and assisted twice in a 5-1 Spurs win at White Hart Lane.
The Dane scored in both Premier League fixtures against Sunderland in the 2014-15 season and in 2016 he was on the scoresheet twice in a 4-1 win at White Hart Lane.
Eriksen didn't score in his final match against Sunderland which was in 2017 and then the Black Cats were relegated - and probably glad to get away from the midfielder.
Another player with as many goals against Sunderland as he's played games is Suarez, and there wasn't many clubs that the Uruguayan didn't score against.
Suarez scored in his first match against the Black Cats for Liverpool in 2011 in a 2-0 victory, and then scored six more times in his next five matches against them.
He scored braces in two of those but he failed to score in his final match against Sunderland back in 2014 - he then exited the Premier League to join Barcelona and the Black Cats did not have to worry about him finding the back of the net against them ever again.
Another striker that has had considerable success against the Black Cats over the years is Benteke, who has played for three different clubs in the top flight.
In the first season the Belgian came up against Sunderland, he scored a hat-trick at Villa Park in what ended up being a 6-1 drubbing by the Midlands side, but then he did actually go two years without scoring against them.
That changed in 2015 when he scored twice at the Stadium of Light in a 4-0 win for Villa, and then a move to Liverpool saw him net the only goal later that year in a 1-0 win on Wearside.
Benteke's overall record against Sunderland stands at seven goals and an assist in nine matches - very effective indeed.
The second big unit of a striker to appear on this list, Giroud was a nemesis of Sunderland throughout his time at Arsenal.
The Frenchman actually didn't score in his first two appearances against the Black Cats, however he came alive in the 2013-14 campaign by scoring three times and assisting two more goals in his two matches.
Giroud scored four more goals for the Gunners against Sunderland in his career, taking his tally to seven goals in 10 games - the Black Cats will be hoping they do not come up against Chelsea in the cup next season as it's almost certain that he would find the back of the net.
When Sunderland were relegated from the Premier League in 2017, one player in particular had a storming season against them and that was Romelu Lukaku.
The Belgian striker put the Black Cats to the sword early on in the season by scoring a hat-trick for Everton in a 3-0 romp, and then netted yet again later on in the campaign in a 2-0 win at Goodison Park.
Before that though it was a mixed bag of success, not scoring in his first two seasons for the Toffees against Sunderland but he did score once and assist twice in one 2015-16 season game which they won 6-2.
Adding his three goals for West Brom against the Wearsiders means that Lukaku scored eight times in 10 matches - a very good record indeed.
Whilst Keane's actual goal to game ratio against Sunderland doesn't trump many on the list, his longetivity and the fact he scored for three different teams against the club ranks him on here.
Keane first faced Sunderland back in 1999 when a Coventry City player, and scored in both Premiership matches against them before moving on to Inter Milan.
He then returned to England though with Leeds and scored for them in 2002 at Elland Road against the Black Cats, and then it was on to Tottenham.
As Sunderland fluctuated between the top flight and the Championship, Keane didn't get to play against them every season but in his last seven matches against them he scored five times, leaving his record at eight goals in 15 matches.
Van Persie actually missed quite a few chances to play against Sunderland due to injuries, but he still managed to score quite a few goals in the 14 times he did come up against them.
In his nine games for Arsenal, the Dutchman scored seven times before moving on to Manchester United, where he only scored once but also grabbed two assists in five matches.
RVP was a menace to many Premier League defences during his time in England and imagine if he stayed fit - he could have got to playing around 20 times against the Black Cats and could have extended his scoring record, but eight goals in 14 outings wasn't a bad achievement.
For this one we have to delve way back into the archives - Greaves was an absolute menace against the Black Cats back in the 1960's for Tottenham Hotspur and defenders just didn't know how to deal with him.
Greaves scored five goals in his first five matches for Spurs against Sunderland, and in his sixth match he netted four times in a 5-1 drubbing.
They would be his last goals against the club as he moved on to West Ham, where he didn't face Sunderland as they were relegated into the second tier of English football at the time.
Greaves isn't the last legendary striker to make this list though as you will see very shortly...
Due to his long career in the Premier League, mainly with Chelsea, Lampard played against Sunderland no less than 25 times during his playing days.
Interestingly Lampard didn't score against Sunderland between 1997 and 2006 for both West Ham and Chelsea - goals just seemed to avoid him when he came up against the Wearsiders - however in 2007 he exploded into life.
From that point on, Lampard scored 10 times in 14 matches, with standout moments being scoring a brace in a 7-2 victory against the Black Cats in 2010.
Sunderland probably thought they'd gotten rid of him in 2014 when Lampard headed to the MLS, but he quickly returned with Man City and netted his final goal against the club for City on New Year's Day 2015.
The player with the most goals on record against the Black Cats is none other than Sir Geoff Hurst, who was incredibly prolific for West Ham United and England at the peak of his powers.
Sunderland first came up against Hurst in 1964 when they were promoted to the First Division, and from that point on he became the club's biggest nemesis.
Hurst scored 15 times in 13 matches against Sunderland, but he saved his best game - and perhaps one of the most complete performances of his career - on October 19, 1968 when he scored SIX times against them in an 8-1 victory at the Boleyn Ground.