Still far from cool for Cats
COULD Sunderland end up being a write-off?
Already fans fear promotion is beyond a collection of players who are lacking physically and in guile.
The Black Cats will need to win 20 of their last 27 games to beat last season’s points total, which was only good enough for the play-offs.
But they’ve won only one of their last nine and that’s after ditching Jack Ross and bringing in Phil Parkinson. So much for a new manager bounce.
In August, the aim was to get 100 points and smash the division. Now the question is how low can the club fall?
Their current position of 11th in the third tier is their worst ever. And it could get worse on and off the pitch.
Parkinson (below) doesn’t look like he can stop the rot that set in years ago.
Fans have grown fed up with owner Stewart Donald (above) and Charlie Methven, who don’t have the financial clout to guarantee they get out of the League One doldrums. Any chances of quickly cutting costs, winning promotion and selling for a profit have vanished.
That’s what makes the £10million loan — secured on the club’s assets — recently acquired from US investors so intriguing. They insist they could raise the cash to pay it back if push came to shove.
But what if the decline on the pitch continues? What if Sunderland fail to get back to the marginally more lucrative Championship this season?
Could it become a write-off for Donald and Co, with the US investors ending up owning the club by default?
What would their motives be? Asset strip to get a return? Sell a bit of the training ground to build houses on?
The stakes for Donald and
Parkinson are high. They can’t afford
st four g top-flight e since a
■ Manchester City have found the net in each of their last 22 Premier League games v Newcastle – their joint-longest such run in the competition.
■ No Premier League player has scored more goals in all competitions this season than
Man City’s Raheem Sterling (15 goals, level with Wolves’ Raul Jimenez).
■ On his 24th Premier League appearance, Miguel Almiron registered his first assist in the competition, with what was his 23rd chance created for a team-mate.