Sunderland insider reveals how power impacted Charlie Methven at Sunderland during Netflix filming

Filmmaker and boyhood fan Ben Turner witnessed first hand the Charlie Methven era at Sunderland during the filming of the hit Netflix show Sunderland Til I Die.

Ahead of the release of season three of the documentary, which will cover Sunderland's eventual promotion to the Championship, Turner has insisted that the portrayal of Methven is true to life - and that power contributed to his downfall.

Upon leaving Sunderland, Methven questioned the editorial process involved but later reflected that the series was a 'fair depiction'.

"They take thousands of hours of footage and then condense it into a melodramatic version of an entire year. Having said that, I think it’s a fair depiction of that mad and crazy period," Methven told the Daily Mail.

"We’ve had to accept the editorial judgement that they focused more on us as opposed to the fans. So yes, we’ve got mixed feelings and have to take the reaction as it comes, although I’m not sure what my mum will make of the endless bleeping!"

Methven, a former journalist and PR expert became an internet sensation during season two of the docu-series with several moments involving the now-Charlton Athletic co-owner becoming memes. Turner, though, says it was a true-to-life depiction.

“I wish I was a good enough filmmaker that it could be all in the editing,” Turner laughed when asked about Methven's comments by The Echo. “If that was in my power then all of my films would be that good. It is an interesting thing, when people get to buy football clubs, it is generally because they have done very well in business beforehand and made a lot of money but something happens when you get in there and football turns us all into children - that is the power of it.

“On the up side, it is a romance and a joy and as we see in Sunderland Til I Die a community and way of bringing a community together, which is incredibly powerful but that power seems to affect people in a funny way and they make decisions that they wouldn’t necessarily make in a business sense. But Charlie was… well, he wrote his own script really, didn’t he? He was unbelievable."

* Sunderland ‘Til I Die series 3 will be available on Netflix as a box set from February 13th (series one and two also still available)