Sunderland have announced that they have sold 12,000 season tickets prior to the 2020/2021 season.
Life at the Stadium of Light has hardly given fans of the Wearside club much to cheer about of late after a disappointing few seasons which have been heavily documented via Netflix series Sunderland Til I Die.
The former Premier League club's recent failure to gain promotion from League One has been aligned with controversy off the pitch which has involved current owner Stewart Donald.
Regular fans at the club's home games missed a total of three matches due to the global pandemic forcing the end of the League One season and, whilst they disagreed with the refund process for those games, the club have now announced that the majority have renewed.
Through an official statement on the official club website, Sunderland revealed that they had paused sales until an announcement was made on the return for fans to stadia:
"With season card sales already surpassing the 12,000-mark, which is in line with the reduced capacity estimated, we have today taken the decision to pause all new season card sales until further notice.
"We appreciate that many fans will be disappointed by this news, but we will provide a further update regarding additional sales once further clarification around supporter attendance has been provided."
The Government are currently planning to allow fans back in stadiums from October 1, almost a month after the League One campaign begins on September 12.
It is a strange decision for the club to pause season ticket sales but, if fans are not allowed back into stadia on October 1, Sunderland may have some disgruntled supporters who have already paid for entry to games.
Ticket sales of 12,000 up to this point is not bad, though, especially given that the club have offered very little in terms of excitement on the pitch over the last 12 months following their eighth-placed finish last term.
Do you think the 12,000 fans who have already got season tickets will be allowed into games from the first week of the season? Let us know in the comments section below...