Tears and jeers for a club that was sold Short
BLACK CATS OUT OF LIVES
NISSAN and the Black Cats may sound like a cheesy pop band – but they are actually the lifeblood of Sunderland.
The Japanese car manufacturers and the football club are what keeps the North East city alive.
Sadly, they have suffered an almighty fall following relegation from the Premier League and it has been depressing to witness.
I must declare an interest here – my mum’s family hail from Sunderland and my great-grandad was landlord of the Grey Horse pub in Penshaw.
Defeat at Reading tomorrow will all but spell a second successive relegation for this once proud club, who boast six top-flight titles and two FA Cups.
But this column can reveal it might have all been different if owner Ellis Short had accepted a £55m offer for the club in June of last year from a consortium, which included an extra £10m payment if the club returned to the Premier League within two years.
Sunderland have been burdened with a £20m wage bill for this season, with plenty of the players still on big salaries.
The consortium planned to fix the mess the hard way by selling £25m worth of players by this January and £75m over the first two years.
Their idea was to build a team of hungry young players. Only the current crop, some on wages of more than £50,000 a week, know how hard they have fought to stop the decline.
You have to feel for Sunderland’s super loyal fans. Despite seeing them pick up just one point out of 18 in their previous six home games, around 25,000 turned up to see the Black Cats draw 1-1 with Norwich on Tuesday.
And in August, over 30,0000 watched them lose 2-0 to Leeds at the impressive Stadium of Light.
Brian Clough once said: “I would have crawled up the M1 on my hands and knees over broken glass to be manager of Sunderland.”
Now, sadly, the decline of the club – even with the £41m parachute payment for this season – is yet another one of football’s shattered dreams.