Black Cats still in limbo
Sunderland’s players returned for pre-season training today with the club’s future still to be decided.
Coach Kevin Richardson and head of sports science Pete Friar are taking charge of the initial fitness work as preparations for the new campaign get underway.
However, while the activity on the training pitch began, the off-the-field talks which have gone on for months were continuing behind the scenes.
Niall Quinn and his Irish consortium are thought to be close to making a formal offer for chairman and majority shareholder Bob Murray’s 56.8% stake.
However, until they do – it is understood no announcement will be made today - the matter of appointing a new manager and starting the process of re-shaping the squad will be delayed.
Richardson was able to welcome back injury victims Stephen Elliott, Chris Brown, Stephen Wright, George McCartney, Kevin Kyle and Steven Caldwell.
But while the squad has been reduced in size by the departures of Gary Breen, Martin Woods, Joe Murphy, Justin Hoyte, Anthony Le Tallec and Andy Gray, there were no new faces.
Should Quinn and his partners complete a takeover, one of their first tasks would be to recruit Mick McCarthy’s replacement with Alex McLeish’s name having been thrown into the mix again over the weekend amid reports that Australia want to talk to Martin O’Neill.
The new man would in turn have to assess the resources at his disposal and attempt to rebuild with Tommy Miller and Christian Bassila among those current players attracting interest from potential buyers.
