Sunderland Echo

Sir Bob meets Louis-Dreyfus

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Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is set to meet with former Sunderland owner Sir Bob Murray as he continues his rebuild of the club.

The 23-year-old completed his purchase of a majority stake in the Black Cats in February and has set about restoring some structure to the club’s behind the scenes operation.

While some key changes – such as the appointmen­ts of Lee Johnson and Kristjaan Speakman – came before the takeover was officially given the green light, the transforma­tion of the Academy of Light set-up has shown no signs of slowing down.

A new head of recruitmen­t has been recruited alongside new roles in analysis and data, while the club’s Category One Academy has also seen several new appointmen­ts. And as he continues to try and lift Sunderland from League One, Louis-Dreyfus is set to meet with ex-chairman Murray in the coming weeks.

Indeed, the 74-year-old has said that his early impression­s of the club’s new owner have been overwhelmi­ngly positive.

"Our owner now, I really like him,” said Murray, speaking on BBC Radio Newcastle’s Total Sport.

“I'm going to support this young man and I'm going to do everything he would ask me. I'm going to get behind him. I'm not going to get involved and things like that, but I'll do anything I can to move that club forward.

“He's reached out to me, we've had quite a few long conversati­ons and we've got meetings arranged.

“I'm going to a game with him, and he's saying all the right things. He seems totally committed.”

And Murray is hopeful that Louis-Dreyfus can be the man to rebuild the football club – that he feels has been ‘wrecked’ in recent years.

"That club is smashed at Academy level and everything. It's not going to turn around in a day, but at least we've got somebody there,” he added.

“It's got no young players, no legacy, no structure - it's just absolutely been wrecked.

“It's been very hard for me because I worked 20 years to build that club up to where we were. I didn't do it for finance, I did it for love.

“This young man is very intelligen­t, he's got good people around him and a vision. He's certainly worth my time.”

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