Fan Letters: Are you hanging your hopes on Juan Sartori stepping up and ‘saving’ Sunderland?

Dear Roker Report,

They say hindsight is a wonderful thing but from day 1 me and so many others voiced our concerns at the suitability and credentials of Stewart Donald and friends to successfully run Sunderlad Football Club.

So many fans including fanzines and podcasts were sucked in and blinded by their words. They came from none league for heavens sake and openly admitted that they didn’t have the finances to take the club beyond league 1.

Donald then employed his ‘mates’ from Eastleigh and gave them important high up jobs at Sunderland. I wonder what their cv,s included.

Look at the state of the grade 1 academy now, it’s a mess with the youngsters getting beat week in and week out. What’s that doing for their confidence? Would you as a parent want your son to come to Sunderland to learn his football craft?

The club is being run as a none league outfit because that’s all Donald and his ‘mates’ know. He’s the worst owner in the history of our club. Fact!

Yeovil Town fell from the championship to none league because of shambolic ownership. Please don’t think this can’t happen to Sunderland because with Donald in charge the future dosent bear thinking about. Donald out!

The chickens have finally come home to roost.

Michael Clarke

Ed’s Note [Tom]: I think the majority of fans were willing to rightly give the ownership time to prove their worth. Last season was an absolute roller coaster, but this season simply hasn’t been good enough. We haven’t learned from past mistakes, and we have regressed massively since the end of last season. 18 months is a fair yardstick by which to measure the owners, and as people have argued for some time - they’re simply not getting the job done.

Sunderland AFC

Dear Roker Report,

Do sunderland gamble letting Parkinson spend any money choosing new players in jan with his style of play

Risks are I am not sure fans like his style of play so he would need a least one target man who can win a ball in the air we do not have one

A good attacking mid fielder he has managed previously at clubs whose pitches have been poor so that’s I guess why but pitches to day are pass and move

GAMBLE if he fails our club could soon be bankrupt no crowds and if his choice of players are poor ie no resalable value hope I am wrong

Roger Stokell

Ed’s Note [Tom]: I think the vast majority of fans think Phil Parkinson is out of his depth and doesn’t deserve a shot at assembling a team this January window. I honestly don’t know what we should do, to be honest. It’s a frightening situation we find ourselves in - the club need to act now in order to save some face. Does Parkinson have a detailed plan of action and a realistic wish list of capable players? If there’s any doubt at all, it could well be a good idea to bring someone else in.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Dear Roker Report,

Every Sunderland fan is hurting and deep down we all know this is not a cosmetic fix. It is far more serious. We cannot keep changing the manager. Look at all the managers we’ve sacked and been glad to have seen the back of them. Has sacking the manager improved us—no. Looking back over the last years in the Premiership, it was ES money that kept us hanging in there. It was his gesture of writing off over £100 Million that saved our club back in May 2018.

Whoever comes in has to use the players we have and they just are not good enough to get us out of this league. You only have to look at the “pub team” mistakes made week after week by this team and the lack of passion. Nothing will change until Stewart Donald and his Eastleigh team leave our club. We’re hanging onto Satori saving the day. It’s not going to happen. He is hardly likely to put in the money needed when he sees the real state we are in. A lot of fans are saying that our only hope is that SD defaults on his loan and the American Billionaires take over our club. I’m inclined to agree. If there’s an alternative, please tell me.

Sam Lucas

Ed’s Note [Tom]: The worry everyone should have is what guarantee is there that a collective of American Billionaires, who’ve invested a small sum (in their terms) after flirting with a complete takeover, have the nous and expertise to bring in the right people to get the club moving in the right direction? That’s not to say that Donald and co. are blameless here, mind, because they’ve orchestrated many issues currently plaguing the side. I just don’t see any quick fix, unfortunately. Sunderland seemingly do well when we have a manager with genuine character and passion, but we also need footballing brains linking the boardroom to the dugout - i.e. a Director of Football and a team of like-minded individuals with the vision and determination to make this club a success. On top of that, the playing squad needs a real shake up... it’s a grim situation.