LONDON – The riches of the English Premier League are on offer for Sunderland and Sheffield United as they face off in the Championship play-off final on May 24, but the promotion dream could quickly turn sour even for the winners.
For the second consecutive season all three promoted sides from the Championship have been swiftly dumped straight back into the second tier at the first time of asking.
Before the 2023-24 campaign, that had only happened once in English top-flight history, back in 1997-98.
The growing gulf between the two leagues is evidenced by the points tallies of the bottom three in the past two seasons.
Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United went down 12 months ago with the lowest combined tally (66) of any…