Sunderland owner Stewart Donald has apologised to Black Cats fans after they missed out on promotion to the Championship.
Despite being pre-season favourites to return to the Championship at the first time of asking, Sunderland were beaten 2-1 by Charlton in Sunday's play-off final at Wembley Stadium.
Patrick Bauer's heartbreaking winner in stoppage time condemned Jack Ross' side to a second successive season in the third tier for the first time in the club's history.
It was a blow for Donald, who had targeted promotion at the earliest possible opportunity after taking over the club in May last year.
In his first 12 months at the helm, Donald - alongside co-owners Charlie Methven and Juan Sartori - has managed to re-engage the club's supporters after two successive relegations. A bumper Boxing Day crowd of 46,039 that took in the 1-0 win over Bradford was a League One record.
On the pitch, after inheriting a squad stripped to the bare bones, Ross managed to cobble a team together during the summer transfer winner that was able to mount a promotion challenge.
But despite reaching two finals at Wembley, the season - by the expectations Donald and Ross put on themselves at the start of the campaign - was a failure.
And Donald took to social media to acknowledge that and apologised to the club's supporters for failing to deliver promotion.
"I am so sorry I have not been able to achieve for you what your tremendous support deserved," Donald said.
"You rose to every challenge and were magnificent but I could not deliver for you and that is absolutely gutting. I know we need to do better next season."
