Gray reveals where his consortium currently stand

Former Sunderland defender Micky Gray says he and his consortium are ‘trying their best’ to find a solution to get the Black Cats ‘back on track’. with two consortiums to try and buy the club,” he revealed last month.

“We’ve got so far and then it came down to the due diligence, and they weren’t - shall we say nice enough - to give us the paperwork to see what was going on behind the scenes figure wi see tc .”

But the Sunderland academy graduate failed to rule out a return bid, with

"We phoned him this week and asked him if his consortium was interested,” said Donald. "Bearing in mind they had obviously been in touch, he didn’t know the figures so we gave him the figures and he’s going to get back to us.”

And Gray has now confirmed that he did take a call from the club this week – albeit not from Donald directly.

In a brief update posted on his Twitter account, the 45-year-old confirmed that his group are trying to come up with

However, he hinted that things could take time to progress – and was quick to point out that a deal may not materialise at all.

"Twitter is not the place to be making statements,” he posted. "I took a call 2 days ago but not from Mr Donald... All I can say is we are trying our best to come up with a solution to get our club back on track.. things important as this take time... it may or may not happen.”

*Sunderland’s League One rivals Bristol Rovers have appointed Chelsea academy coach Jack Me sure as their new assistant manager.

Me sure will be number two to Rovers boss Ben Garner, who he worked with in a previous role in Crystal Palace's youth setup. Garner told Rovers' website: "Jack is an outstanding coach. "He is someone I have known for a long time and worked very closely with previously. We share very similar beliefs and ideas about the game. He is passionate about what we are trying to build here at Rovers."