Pete O’Rourke has been speaking on a recent edition of Touchline Talk with Dean Jones about news from clubs in England and Scotland.
One of the clubs that he spent some time on was Sunderland, and he issued a takeover claim as the Black Cats look for a replacement for Phil Parkinson.
Sunderland, sitting in eighth place in League One, decided that Parkinson was finished, and he was sacked, and O’Rourke thinks that this is because the impending takeover of the club by a consortium containing board member Juan Sartori and French billionaire heir Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is edging closer.
He said: “I think with Phil Parkinson getting the sack, that probably points to this takeover inching ever closer, and that will probably happen before the end of this year.
“So, that will be good news for Sunderland.”
Do you think the takeover is close?
Yes, seems that way
No, something will go wrong
TIF Thoughts on the proposed takeover of Sunderland…
Stewart Donald currently owns the club, and under his leadership, the Black Cats have failed to get out of League One on two occasions and are currently outside of the play-off places this season.
So, you could argue that they have not done a very good job, and any takeover could revitalise the club and help them start pushing back up the divisions and eventually back to the Premier League.
Under Parkinson, the Black Cats were just outside of the play-off positions, but maybe the new owners don’t want to risk not getting promoted once again, so that was why he was sacked?
Either way, we hope that O’Rourke is right and Sunderland do have new owners soon because the current regime have not taken the club forward since they took over in May 2018.