Where do Sunderland go from here?

Spending a third consecutive season in League One, without a chairman, head of recruitment or academy manager, and now in search of a new manager less than 13 months after appointing Phil Parkinson, it is fair to say Sunderland find themselves in a mess.

A 1-1 draw at fellow promotion chasers Fleetwood on Friday made it five games without a win in all competitions for the side reported to have had the biggest budget the third tier has ever seen upon relegation from the Championship in 2018.

The club is enduring a third consecutive season in the third tier for the first time in it’s history, but despite obvious issues on the field, what happens next off it could be just as important in returning Sunderland to former glories.

Since Oxford-based businessman Stewart Donald bought the club in the spring of 2018 from previous owner Ellis Short things have someone managed to go from bad to worse, as partly chronicled in Netflix series ‘Sunderland ‘Til I Die’.

Donald and now departed director Charlie Methven planned to use the behind-the-scenes documentary to drum up interest and investment in the club, as Ellis Short had done before them, but their antics on film, coupled with failure to win promotion from League One at the first time of asking, only served to turn supporters against them.

Inability to secure a place in the play-offs last campaign after the season was decided by points-per-game was the final straw for many fans, and in the summer Donald told BBC Radio Newcastle that he was ‘desperately trying to get out’ of the club before resigning as chairman.

In the same interview, Donald addressed concerns about his use of Sunderland’s Premier League parachute payments to fund his initial purchase of the club:

“I’ve invested in the football club and promised to repay those funds, but I don’t want to lose money on the deal. I feel that the football club is in a much better condition than when I purchased it and I’ll take the same money.

“I appreciate that fans may not be happy with where Sunderland is, but what I’m guilty of is not getting the promotion that everyone wanted.

“But I haven’t not achieved that by being a crook, or a charlatan or a thief.”

Whilst the former Eastleigh owner has every right to demand whatever fee he deems appropriate for the football club, suggesting Sunderland are in ‘much better condition’ is a bone of contention for many supporters.

Donald funded a well-received project that saw the weather-damaged seats at the Stadium of Light replaced in his first months of ownership, but since then he has made a number of unpopular decisions and developed a hostile relationship with a number of supporters’ groups.

His desperation to sign Will Grigg on deadline day of the 2019 January transfer window, showcased in ‘Sunderland ‘Til I Die’, showed the business acumen of a lovestruck teenager rather than a savvy boardroom operator – striker Grigg has scored eight goals in 55 appearances after costing a League One record £3million.

Donald also made the decision to replace manager Jack Ross in October of the same year after the current Hibernian boss had guided Sunderland to the Play-Off Final and the final of the EFL Trophy earlier in the year. The Black Cats had made a slow start to the following campaign, but replacing Ross with the pragmatic and direct football of Parkinson was never likely to be a smooth transition and it has been born out in the results.

Every football club has made a signing that doesn’t work out or appointed a manager who never quite fit the role, these decisions can be excused. What cannot be excused in the eyes of Sunderland fans is the perceived contempt Donald has treated them with.

Upon meeting with supporters in the same week he declared his intent to sell the club in July, Donald reportedly told those in attendance that comments made by fans on social media had prevented a sale going through already before threatening to ‘sell to anyone’ if he continued to receive abuse from those same fans. He went on to single out Chris Weatherspoon of the Wise Men Say podcast, saying he should ‘shut up or check his facts’ despite the fact he was not in attendance at the meeting.

It is clear that both Donald and Sunderland supporters are looking for a fresh start, and it appears one may finally be on the horizon.

Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, a 23-year-old American heir to the Louis Dreyfus Company fortune, is apparently in the final stages of completing a takeover and thus ending Donald’s two and a half years in charge at the Stadium of Light.

Whilst little is known about the prospective owner’s plans for the club, or if he can be the man to turn the tide on Wearside after a decade of decline, there is palpable relief among Sunderland fans that Donald looks to be on his way out.

All is not lost for Sunderland on the field either, there are still 33 league games to be played and they are by no means out of the promotion hunt. The club still has Premier League standard training facilities and a 49,000 seater stadium, the potential to return to the top flight is there should they get decisions right at the executive level.

It has become something of a cliché to highlight just how important a role supporters play at a football club, but the scenes in Trafalgar Square the day before Sunderland’s EFL Trophy final against Portsmouth at Wembley indicated just how fanatical fans in the North East are.

If Louis-Dreyfus can learn from Donald’s mistakes, Sunderland could be back where their supporters long for them to be in the not too distant future.