Wise Men Say: Sunderland's defeat at strugglers Scunthorpe provides a nadir in a season of unprecedented lows

However, after watching yet another pitiful Sunderland performance, a statement is posed by one of the patrons, “this is the worst it’s ever been.”

There is a solitary retort to this depressing sentence which hammers in the gloom a little further.

“Aye, so far”.

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In a season barely three months old, Sunderland supporters can have their pick of unprecedented calamities their side have dished up.

In the past week alone we have watched Leicester’s academy side play us off the park, a goalkeeping howler condemn us to an uninspiring cup draw in front of a sparsely populated Stadium of Light and now suffering the ignominy of being torn apart by the Football League’s fourth worst team.

And that’s just this week.

For all the more optimistic supporters will say we had it worse in 1987, 2006 or 2017, the facts remain, this is the worst Sunderland have ever been in their entire history.

Owners Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven justified their decision to sack Jack Ross by saying they needed to make an appointment that would guarantee promotion. In Phil Parkinson, they said, they had found a manager with a proven track record and was the most outstanding candidate among those they had interviewed.

While it is still very much early days in Parkinson’s tenure, the signs are extremely worrying.

The former Bolton boss has only two wins from his first eight games. The issues in defence have not been ironed out, Sunderland are still incredibly susceptible to set pieces while the midfield carries far too many passengers.

There have been slight improvements in attack with an increased chance creation but without a competent striker to put them away, the forward line looks completely toothless. On Tuesday, there seemed to be no discernable plan of how to play and we once again resorted to hoping Aiden McGeady would pull something special out of the bag.

There has been nothing to suggest there has been any improvement since Ross’ tenure and, if anything, the team seems to be regressing.

Both Parkinson and the owners will hope for a turnaround very soon otherwise those critical voices present in that Glanford Park away section will grow louder.

Don’t worry, it can always get worse.