Sunderland's season crashed to a devastating finale on Sunday afternoon when they were beaten in the League One play-off final.
Patrick Bauer's second-half winner deep into stoppage time completed Charlton Athletic's turnaround, making the scores 2-1 and sending them back into the second-tier.
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With Sunderland hoping to bounce straight back into the Championship after an embarrassing relegation last season, it represents a disappointing season.
The fan reaction was largely fierce as well, with many on social media calling for Jack Ross to be sacked.
But the powers that be at the club decided to back him publicly a day after the result, reported by Talksport.
So what will the future hold for the Scot?
Tackling today's six-point opinion is FLW writer Louie Chandler...
1) Has this season been a failure for Ross?
"I think it has.
"At the start of it the board set him the goal of reaching the play-offs, which he of course did. But I think expectations shifted after January.
"Splashing £4million on Will Grigg turned it into a season in which automatic promotion really should be achieved, let alone winning the play-offs, but it did not pay-off at all."
2) Is the fan reaction justified?
"Yes and no.
"There are legitimate concerns from some that Ross is not the right person to lead them forward, citing his style of football as poor to watch and regularly ineffective.
"However, the calls for him to be sacked already are rather short-sighted from a fanbase who have seen how damaging a high turnover in managers can be."
3) Are the board right to publicly back him?
"Absolutely.
"It is a situation in which many modern football owners would cave in and sack the responsible man so it is refreshing to see a change in that approach.
"Donald and Methven hired Ross as a long-term option so sacking him now would be a complete contradiction of their long-term plan."
4) What was his biggest failing this season?
"I think he has frequently been over cautious.
"Whilst they have remained defensively sound for the most part, they have frequently failed to kill off matches when they should have, leading to far too many draws.
"The departure of Maja will not have helped but is ultimately no excuse and is something he needs to learn from in the 2019/20 campaign."
5) What needs to change?
"They simply must play to their strengths.
"In McGeady, Grigg and Maguire they have three players who are comfortably better than League One but frequently fallen victim to Ross's set-up.
"Next season should see the Black Cats attacking their opponents at will and blowing them away - something that happened all too rarely this campaign."
6) How do you see next season panning out?
"I can only see it ending in automatic promotion.
"Ross is only in his fourth year of first-team management and just his first in England so will still be learning an awful lot.
"I fully back him to take on the lessons learned from this season, make the right transfers over the summer and set his team up in the right way to get the Black Cats back into the Championship."