By Simon Austin BBC Sport Online

The summer is normally a time of great optimism for football fans.

Without the league table to prove you wrong, you can boldly predict great things for your team and insist that the problems of last season are a thing of the past.

But it is not like that for Sunderland supporters.

Many are already bracing themselves for a bleak season and calling for manager Peter Reid to be sacked.

The Black Cats lost 2-1 to Belgian side Genk on Sunday and their 300 travelling supporters chanted abuse at Reid and his abject side.

Reid has failed to land a new striker

Two fans were so angry at what they were seeing that they ran on to the pitch to vent their ire.

The barracking got too much for Republic of Ireland midfielder Kevin Kilbane - long the target of abuse from the terraces - who responded with a V-sign and some abusive language of his own.

Sunderland were awful last season. They largley played unimaginative football, struggled to score goals and had to wait until the end of the season to ensure their Premiership survival.

And for many fans, little has changed.

Reid promised to buy big during the summer, but his only purchases so far have been veteran defender Phil Babb, who hardly inspired confidence when he was at Liverpool, Everton reserve keeper Thomas Myhre and Tranmere teenager Paul Thornton - all on free transfers.

Sunderland's main problems have long been the lack of a strike partner for Kevin Phillips and the absence of a creative midfielder, but Reid has done nothing to rectify the situation yet.

He failed with a �9m bid to lure Robbie Keane to the Stadium of Light and is now reported to be after Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen.

Even Phillips - who is still being linked with a �12m move to Tottenham - has not recovered fully from the injury problems that blighted him last season and is struggling to return to the form that earned him the golden boot a few seasons ago.

What makes all these problems even harder to bear for Sunderland's fans is that their arch-rivals Newcastle and Middlesbrough have continued to show great ambition.

A fan runs onto the pitch during the Genk game

The Magpies have spent �8.5m on Portuguese teenager Hugo Viana and �5m on 20-year-old England Under-21 defender Titus Bramble.

Boro have signed Massimo Maccarone, widely regarded as the most exciting young player in Italy, from Empoli.

They have also landed Aston Villa's Dutch international George Boateng, and perhaps most excitingly of all, persuaded Brazilian World Cup winner Juninho to return to the club.

Reid is urging Sunderland's fans to give him time to prove he has turned things around, but for many, it looks like more of the same for the 47,000 regulars at the Stadium of Light next season.