“We feel like we’ve been lied to as fans” – Sunderland fan pundit delivers his verdict on surprise Kyril Louis-Dreyfus ownership news

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

The Athletic revealed on Sunday that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus only owns a 41% stake in Sunderland AFC and that the rest remains with Stewart Donald, Juan Sartori and Charlie Methven.

The news has sparked a lot of concern from the club’s enormous supporter base, due to a lack of clarity in who the real decision makers are at the Stadium of Light.

The Black Cats have slipped away from automatic promotion race in League One in the last month or so and took their time in finding a replacement for Lee Johnson as the club’s manager.

Alex Neil stepped into the post over the weekend but may have arrived in a far more difficult environment than he would have been suspected when he took on the role.

Sunderland fan pundit Jack Austwicke was left very worried after seeing the news that Stewart Donald still obtains a 34% stake, Juan Sartori 20% and Charlie Methven 5%.

Speaking to Football League World, Austwicke explained: “The best way to describe the ownership situation at the minute is that it’s worrying.

“It’s very worrying that the fans don’t know who’s owning our club, we feel like we’ve been lied to as fans.

“Our club is in the hands of people that we’re not sure of the identity of.

“When Kyril took charge of the club it was said that he had a controlling stake in the club and we were led to believe that that meant it was over 50% of the club.

“However, he is the largest single shareholder, but as far as a total majority shareholder, that goes down to Madrox, which includes Stewart Donald, Juan Sartori, Charlie