‘BLACK CATS MUST SPEND... OR DISAPPEAR’
SUNDERLAND legend Micky Horswill has told incoming owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus that promotion must be his priority to save the club from oblivion.
After 10 successive years in the Premier League until 2017, the Black Cats are spending a third straight season in League One and owner Stewart Donald has agreed to sell his controlling interest to Louis-Dreyfus.
The 23-year-old Swiss-French billionaire heir, son of the late
Marseille owner Robert LouisDreyfus, is awaiting EFL approval of the deal.
Horswill, 67, a tigerish midfielder in Sunderland’s 1973 FA Cup-winning side, said: “We need somebody to invest in the club, not just buy shares. We need money to buy players.
“It doesn’t matter who you have in charge if you’re stuck in League One, because you’re not making money.
“Covid has stopped people going to games and a number have told me, ‘With the league we’re in, we’re not missing it, really’. Once you start losing supporters to another sport – if they go cycling or whatever – it’s so difficult to get them back.
“The only way to get them back is by going up and if, ultimately, a Manchester City or Arsenal are coming to play.
“You won’t get them back if it’s Plymouth or Peterborough.
“Some people still think we’re a Premier League club. They think we should be winning every game three or four-nil.
“They don’t realise the players we’ve got are nowhere near Premier League or Championship standard.
“They’ve had the best club in the world for years and years and now, with the climate we’re in and money the way it is in football, we’re not up there anymore – and until we get back we’re in big trouble.
“Even if you got promoted with this team, you would have to buy another six or seven players to be able to stay in the Championship – and that’s millions of pounds.”