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The Irishman would take the Black Cats back to the Premier League

The 2002/03 season is one that no Sunderland supporter is going to want to remember any time soon.

In what was their fourth consecutive season in the Premier League, the Black Cats produced a horrendous showing, that went down in history for all the wrong reasons.

By the end of the campaign, they sat bottom of the final standings, having amassed just four league wins all season.

Across the course of the campaign, they set records at the time for the fewest goals scored in a season by a Premier League club (21), and the lowest Premier League points tally (15).

There was therefore, plenty of decisions to be made by the club in the summer of 2003, as they looked to rebuild in the Championship after such disappointment.

Perhaps one of the big decisions Sunderland made at the time though, was to not make a change in one particular area.

Black Cats kept the faith with Mick McCarthy

In March 2003, with the club rock bottom and hurtling towards relegation after taking just one point from their last ten games, Howard Wilkinson was sacked as manager.

In his place, Mick McCarthy was appointed as the new boss at The Stadium of Light, with the Black Cats seven points from safety with nine games left to play.

With relegation looking almost certain, Sunderland will have no doubt been looking to see some reason to be optimistic that McCarthy could turn things around the following season.

However, there appeared to be few signs of that as the campaign drew to a close, with McCarthy enduring a miserable start to life as the club's manager.

Under the Irishman, the Black Cats could not turn things around at all at the end of that Premier League campaign.

They lost all nine league games they played under McCarthy at the end of the campaign, conceding 19 goals in that period, and scoring just twice.

But despite that, Sunderland still chose to stick with the former Millwall and Ireland boss as their manager for their return to the Championship, in what proved to be a decision that certainly paid off.

Mick McCarthy turned things around for Sunderland

Following their return to the second-tier of English football, the struggles would initially continue to struggle under McCarthy.

They were beaten without scoring in their first two league games, against Nottingham Forest and Millwall, to leave them in the relegation zone early in the season.

After that though, Sunderland would finally start to rally under McCarthy, with four straight wins beginning a run of one defeat in 12 games that propelled them into play-off contention.

From there, the Black Cats remained in the mix for a top six spot throughout the course of the campaign, finishing third to secure a shot at an immediate promotion back to the Premier League.

There would though, be more heartbreak for the club in the semi-finals, where after a 4-4 draw on aggregate over two legs, they were beaten 5-4 on penalties by Crystal Palace.

That ended any hopes of a swift return to the top-flight, but the club again kept faith by sticking with McCarthy, and there would be no disappointment next time round.

To begin with, the 2004/05 season started in challenging fashion for Sunderland, with just one win in their first six league games leaving them 17th in the table.

It was a start that heaped scrutiny on McCarthy, but he was backed by the club, and this time, oversaw an even more emphatic turnaround in form.

Again, it was a run of four straight wins that put the Black Cats back into the mix for the play-off places, and this time, they were able to push on even further from that.

Having remained in the mix for the promotion spots, McCarthy oversaw a run of eight straight wins between February and March 2005, that saw Sunderland claim top spot in the division.

From there, they never looked back, and after two seasons away, secured a return to the Premier League in style, finishing as champions with three straight wins to close out the campaign.

Consequently, the club's decision to stick with McCarthy despite such a challenging start to life at The Stadium of Light, had earned them the reward he was surely hired to secure.

As a result, even with the Black Cats enduring more disappointment in the Premier League the following campaign, the decision to keep McCarthy in the Championship, was one that was surely vindicated for Sunderland.