Big Cats getting their pride back

MEMORIES of Sunderland’s painful plummet from the Premier League to the third tier of English football are slowly subsiding on Wearside.

Previous owner Ellis Short (right, top) oversaw a disastrous decade at the Stadium of Light, culminating in back-to-back relegations and economic chaos that can never be forgiven or forgotten.

The American billionaire might have written off debts in the region of £125million that his financial folly created, but he walked away leaving behind a crumbling club.

The future looked bleak. But, from the wreckage they inherited, new owner Stewart Donald and his manager Jack Ross are painstakingly rebuilding the club, albeit on the most modest of budgets.

Slowly, but surely, Sunderland are repairing the damage by virtue of huge cuts and necessary downsizing.

Black Cats fans have responded impressively to the new regime with home gates of 30,000.

And more than 2,000 fans made the arduous trip to Gillingham in midweek and were rewarded with a thumping 4-1 win. There is a connection and a unified approach with Donald (above) and his board that never existed under the aloof Short.

Pride and hope are being restored at the Stadium of Light and a joint venture between fans and club to install new seats underlines a shared sense of purpose.

Ross is well aware that such a huge rebuilding project will take time.

But at least the foundations now look far more solid.