Kyril excited by Cats challenge with a long-term rebuild vision
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is excited by the challenge of ‘rebuilding’ Sunderland after hitting out at the lack of long-term vision, cost-cutting and ‘assetstripping’ in recent years.
The 23-year-old is the new chairman and majority shareholder at Sunderland after agreeing a deal to take charge from Stewart Donald, Charlie Methven and Juan Sartori, who bought the club from Ellis Short in 2018.
Donald, Methven and Sartori retain a minor stakehold in the club but are no longer directors.
In his first interview since taking charge Louis-Dreyfus spokeoftheneedtorebuildthe club,withSunderlandbattling for promotion from League One at the third time of asking.
Louis-Dreyfus didn’t name any names in his interview but Sunderland fans have long since complained about the cost-cuttingofthepreviousregimewithanumberofyounger playerssoldfromtheacademy.
He said he was ‘very excited and proud’ to be associated withSunderlandandwaskeen to get started with his rebuilding project, something which he has been quick to do in recent days.
Louis-Dreyfus said: “It is a fresh start for the club, it has been many years now where the club had no real long-term vision and also cost-cutting at its forefront which basically led to an asset stripping in almost all departments at the club, which requires rebuilding from the start.
“It will be a long-term plan, hopefully we can take it forward together and bring better times for the club.”
He added: “The takeover has taken much longer than we all expected it to have, I am verythankfultothesupporters and the staff for the patience theyhaveshown,ittooklonger than we expected.
“I have obviously had a lot ofthoughtsgoingforwardover
the last few months, what we want to achieve and how we want to get sustainability and success. I think it all comes down to having a long-term vision, which we have now begun with the appointment of KristjaanSpeakman,SteveDavison and Lee Johnson which I believe will play a key role in us going forward.”
The new chairman has alreadymadehispresencefeltin
the appointments of Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman and Chief Operating Officer Steve Davison.
Speakman was the key figure in the selection of Lee Johnsonasheadcoachandyesterdayannouncedtheoutcome of his initial assessment of the club’s academy structure.
Head of Coaching Lewis Dickman has been appointed as the new Academy Manager, with Stuart English arriving from Birmingham City to take up his previous role.
Leann Cowperthwaite has been appointed Head of Academy Operations.
Meanwhile, Louis-Drefyus appointed two close allies as directors at Sunderland AFC.
In a number of significant updates posted at Companies House, it was also confirmed that neither Stewart Donald nor Juan Sartori remain as directors at the club.
Bothhaveretainedaminority shareholding in the club alongside Charlie Methven as a result of the deal that has seen Louis-Dreyfus become controlling shareholder and Chairman.
This move nevertheless reflects the limited influence they are now set to exert over club affairs moving forward.
Lee Johnson hailed a ‘very professional’ performance from his Sunderland side as they landed a third successive league win for the first time this season.
It was also the first time the Black Cats have beaten Fleetwood Town since dropping into League One.
The Black Cats struggled to open up their opponents in the first half but looked solid out of possession and a lift in tempo in the second half secured three more valuable points.
“First half I thought they started the better, but I'm just looking at the statistics there and we're playing against a good side who haven't had a shot on goal," Johnson said.
“That shows the control we had in the game.
“There were times in the first half where I wanted us to play forward quicker, we didn't quite have the zip to our game that we had against Burton and that's understandable given the amount of games we've had.
“So you've got to win games in different ways.
“It was a bit flat to begin with and I think that's where you need your crowd, but at the same time the cohesive patterns of play, the control we had from good players, meant that we were always going to tire the opposition down and when you've got the ball, the opposition can't score.
“A lot of things pleased
me. A set piece goal, a clean sheet. You need 19 or 20 of those to be in contention for promotion and we can't be far off that now.
“The most pleasing part is that in the second half we were able to up it by that 5, 10%. It wasn't glamorous, but it was very professional and very s olid .”
Johnson also praised Lynden Gooch for his ongoing
versatility, as a switch to a 4-4-2 at half-time yielded instant results.
“We had to work on a plan A and a plan B because we knew that our shape and their shape doesn't always match,” Johnson said.
“I thought about changing it in the first 20 minutes to be honest but then we started getting quite a bit of control, McGeady was starting to get at people.
“But we wore them down and I think that the beauty of having Gooch and O'Nien is their flexibility is a real positive for us moving forward."
Johnson also admitted that he had been set to substitute Aiden O’Brien before his headed goal broke the deadlock, and hailed the Irishman for his desire in getting to Aiden McGeady’s
cross.
Another clean sheet owed much to another excellent display at the heart of defence from Dion Sanderson, who Johnson said is showing the improvements he is adding to his game.
"That's what we expect,” Johnson said.
“We've worked hard, he's worked hard.
“He's a good player and if he makes a mistake he can bounce back, he negotiated having a yellow card extremely well and was very calm and composed on the ball.
“I think aerially he was dominant and that's not something you would necessarily say is his strong point so those improvements in his performance are really nice to see.”