An email from a disgruntled SAFC fan to club CEO Martin Bain

There is a growing section of Sunderland supporters that want the club to relieve our manager, David Moyes, of his duties. And, as a result, one Roker Report reader felt compelled to email our CEO, Martin Bain, airing his grievances about the reasons why the former Everton boss remains in a job following what has been a completely dismal campaign in the Premier League which will almost certainly culminate in relegation.

In truth, the objective of the email may well seem fairly fruitless, but it's one way that Sunderland supporters can pass on their concerns about the running of the club, especially as the people at the top are so difficult to get in contact with.

The reader - again, who wishes not to be named - has kindly allowed Roker Report to post the exchange for other fans to see.

Whilst the retort from Louise Wanless - who has replied on behalf of Martin Bain in this instance - may well seem inconclusive and 'generic', it's interesting to see what sort of message is being relayed to supporters that have chosen to contact the club in this way.

To Martin...

Well, Another morning of waking up and heading to work to be laughed at by colleagues for another abject, heartless and gutless display from our football team in the second half after conceding a goal.

This football club has been in turmoil for nearly 6 years but this is as bad as I can ever remember it. The soul has been sucked from the stadium, apathy in the stands and concourses before, during and after the game. We are the laughing stock to the media.

Why are you persevering with David Moyes? I agree we need stability but you are giving stability to the wrong man. This manager is finished, don’t let his success at Everton almost 5 years ago cloud your judgement. A failure at Manchester United, A failure at Real Sociedad and now a complete and utter failure at Sunderland. Why are you sticking by him when he has shown nothing to suggest he is capable of turning this football club around? He is the most unstable man at the whole football club. He doesn’t want to be here, that’s evident. He made it very clear from the beginning that the expectation on him to do anything meaningful was low. I, like many other Sunderland fans would be all for seeing out a long term plan with Moyes if we felt it was clear and obvious what he was trying to achieve. We have seen no evidence of a plan, we’ve seen no evidence of forward thinking and we have not seen one example of something this man is good at. Its been a disaster from the start and you are losing the support of what makes our football club so great.

Just to put things into perspective, This is the man you are currently standing by for some unknown reason: Played 30, Won 5, Drawn 5, Lost 20, Goal Difference -29, Won 1 in 2017, Not scored in last 6, Not scored in 10 of last 11 games, 19 wins from last 77 as a manager.

I am not expecting a reply from either of you but please consider the above. We as fans are screaming out for Moyes to be released from his duties. We are going down and he will not bring us back up. We need to try and rebuild the team in the Championship to build a winning mentality around the club, The only way the fans will have a positive outlook on 2017/18 is if we have someone else in charge to lead us back to the Premier League.

Please, I beg you. Pull the trigger.

The reader then received the following reply yesterday, from Media & Communications manager Louise Wanless, explaining the club's stance at present:

Thank you for your email. It is clear that you are a passionate Sunderland fan and we appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us.

At the present time we find ourselves in an extremely challenging situation. This of course is hugely difficult for everyone - supporters and club alike. We accept this has not been the season that any of us had hoped for planned for, but I can assure you that this makes us more determined to bring about the stability to the club that we all recognise is needed.

The challenges we face, particularly from a financial perspective, have been well documented. However, despite this challenging backdrop, our CEO, Martin Bain, is leading a raft of positive changes off the field, in order to put us in a stronger position to better support David Moyes and the football operations. Whilst there is no quick-fix solution, I can assure you that we are all focused on moving forward positively and proactively.

Once again thank you contacting us and for your many years of support.

With warmest regards,

Louise Wanless

The reply from Wanless seems fairly inconclusive but, with respect, it is nice to see that someone from the club took the time to reply to the initial email.

You would imagine that the club would welcome more of these types of messages from supporters - after all, the best way to stay connected with the fan base is to hear their views on a daily basis and relate back to them with personable, measured responses.

Bain, Wanless and co. must surely be feeling the frustrations mounting, and in order to combat the growing angst one would imagine that the most logical solution is to make a public statement to the fans about just what these plans are that Bain, Moyes and friends seemingly have hidden up their sleeves.

The fans need answers, and whilst it’s encouraging to see club officials take the time to reply to fan messages it still isn’t quite enough to reinvigorate our confidence. We need more outreach from the club because as of right now we are being left to jump to our own conclusions.

Feel free to email or write to club officials letting them understand your frustrations - it is a constructive and effective form of communication that benefits all parties involved.