Fan Letters: Altering our mindset as supporters is key to a successful future for Sunderland!

Dear Roker Report,

At the moment I’m mildly optimistic about the takeover but we Sunderland fans will want immediate success and frankly we will have to be patient. We are a big club with around the 8th highest average attendance and potential to grow. MSD are interested because of that potential and I am guessing the price is right because frankly we are at a low ebb in terms of position. Even if the current owners make a few bob out of the deal I for one will be eternally grateful as there for the grace of god goes Bolton and some others before.

One hope is that we don’t chop and change managers each season like Chelsea and pre- Guardiola Man City. Be patient - it may be a few years, but if we can emulate a team like Leicester in 4-5 years I for one would be happy.

Andrew Bailey (56+ years support and counting)

Ed’s Note [Gav]: Sustained success - whether this takeover eventually completes or not - has to be the way forward for Sunderland. That way of thinking is key.

Supporters now have to realise that the days of throwing tens of millions at attempting to improve our playing squad with very little thought for where that money is going, whether it’ll eventually see us turn a profit or even if the player is the right type of character for this club are long behind us.

We lived through the most overwhelming plight in this club’s history only recently, so you’d expect that our fans would know better than any others that we cannot repeat the mistakes of the past. Unfortunately, I think that means there may be a period of, like you say, four or five years where Sunderland must improve systematically.

Just look at the top teams in the Championship right now - the gulf in quality between those sides and the ones struggling near the bottom is huge. It’d be unreasonable to expect that, should this Sunderland team get promoted, we’d be immediately competing at the top again next season. That’s not to say it won’t happen, just that I think regardless of who owns the club we cannot allow ourselves to believe that we’re holding ourselves back by not throwing massive sums of money at improving the squad in a big to get promoted as quickly as possible. Just my opinion, of course.

Photo by Steve Drew - PA Images via Getty Images

Dear Roker Report,

Give the new consortium a chance - they can not be any worse than Short.

We need this new investment to get going, and get back to where we belong.

John Bradshaw

Ed’s Note [Gav]: Don’t worry John - I think people will be more than willing to give them a chance! Like I said above, though, I think we’ll need to be patient. I wrote earlier this week about how the benefits of these new owners go far beyond their swollen bank accounts, and it might be worth a read if you haven’t seen it already.