Sunderland arrive at Portman Road on Saturday as the tenth promoted club in Premier League history to qualify for Europe, and one of the two who managed that and were relegated the following year is the club standing opposite them. George Burley's Ipswich finished fifth with 66 points in 2000-01, the highest position and the biggest points total any promoted side has managed in a 38-game season, and went down the next year with a European campaign on the fixture list.
Sunderland finished seventh last season on 54 points, from 14 wins, 12 draws and 12 defeats and a goal difference of minus six, and play in Europe for the first time in 53 years. Ipswich came up second in the Championship on 84 points, 11 behind the champions Coventry City.
Ipswich have answered the problem with money. They have spent £150m on 12 major signings, the largest outlay of the three promoted clubs, closing on the £161m Sunderland put into 15 players in their own overhaul a year ago. They are doing it with a manager who was not there in May: Kieran McKenna resigned in the summer and Gary O'Neil took over.
Emersonn, a club record at £24m from Toulouse, is the marquee arrival. Daizen Maeda came from Celtic, Abdul Fatawu from Leicester City, Issa Diop from Fulham, and Julio Enciso and Abdoul Ouattara from Strasbourg, O'Neil's previous club. "Two seasons ago, the club didn't get anywhere near staying in the division and this time we need to do better," O'Neil said last month.