Ex-Sunderland prospect reveals heartbreaking way Stewart Donald released him after eight-year stint

Former Sunderland attacker Luke Molyneux has revealed the heartbreaking way he was released by his boyhood club under Stewart Donald's stewardship.

The 26-year-old is now thriving with Doncaster Rovers in League Two, playing 119 times for the club in all competitions and netting 21 goals. The attacker has already netted six in 13 league matches so far this season with his team four points off first place in the third tier.

Molyneux’s football journey, however, started at his boyhood club Sunderland as a 13-year-old, while the club were still in the Premier League. The Bishop Auckland-born winger made his debut against Wolves in the Championship on the final day of the season after the Black Cats had already suffered relegation to League One.

Two further appearances in League One and another in the League Cup would follow at the beginning of the 2018-19 season under Jack Ross before the youngster was sent out on loan, initially to Gateshead in the National League North and then to Hartlepool United.

After returning to Sunderland the summer following the Black Cats failing to secure an instant return to the Championship after losing to Charlton Athletic in the play-off final at Wembley, Molyneux was released without an in-person conversation and explanation despite an eight-year association with the club.

“It was quite frustrating and I was disappointed because I made my debut in the last game of the season in the championship against Wolves,” Molyneux told The Echo when asked about his release by Sunderland in the summer of 2019.

He continued: “Then I thought with the team getting relegated, it gives myself a bit more of an opportunity to be in and around the first team and it was a new manager coming in with Jack Ross. In pre-season, I played a lot and then the first two games of the League One campaign, I came on as a sub, so I thought I was going to be in and around it.

“I went to Gateshead for the first few months until January and then got recalled and then went back out to Hartlepool. I thought I had a really good two loans there. I think I ended up in one of the teams of the season in the National League so I feel like I had a really good loan.

“Sunderland were still in the playoffs at the time, so I had to go back once my season finished with Hartlepool. I just remember going to see Jack Ross at the time and I just said what's happening? Like, I'm out of contract in the summer. I didn't know what was going to happen.

“He just basically said it's not down to him. It was Stewart Donald who was the owner at the time and he just said it's nothing to do with him, it's just to do with higher-ups. Then I just remember about a couple of weeks later getting a letter in the post saying that I'd been released so it just ended quite abruptly and just like that. But you just have to move on quick.”

Molyneux’s story is sadly not unique, with football littered with examples of cold-heartedness towards young players after they have served their purpose or are no longer needed, though it is difficult to imagine a prospect being released in such a way under Sunderland’s current ownership and academy manager Robin Nicholls.

Molyneux is a boyhood Sunderland fan, and though he achieved the dream of so many by donning the famous red and white stripes, his release in such brutal fashion was a bitter pill to swallow for him and his Black Cats-supporting-family, in particular his season-ticket-holding grandfather.

“My grandad was a season ticket holder the whole time and then as soon as I got released he cancelled it because he just thought obviously with me being there he had no reason to go back and to watch,” Molyneux added regarding his release.

“It got to a point where he just didn't recognise any of the players because they were bringing that many in so it was just like he just wasn't looking out. He just wanted to support me more than Sunderland then when it got to that point. I always look out for them. Whenever I'm on TV I always watch them.

“My grandad's still the same. Whenever they're on TV, he still watches them. I like to look out for them all the time. I still know a few of the lads who are there. I always wish them the best and always want them to do well. I'd love to see them back in the Premier League. But I probably have a different type of feeling than what I had when I was growing up and when I was actually there.”

Reflecting on the state of the club back in 2019, Molyneux added: “I feel like for young lads like myself it was probably one of the worst periods to be around because I felt like there was nothing we could really do to even get a chance in the first team.

“They were always looking at buying different players. They spent a fortune on Will Grigg so they were never really looking for players that they already had. It was always looking to bring players in. To get released the way I did was disappointing. After being at the club that long, you'd think you'd get more than just a letter but it is what it is. There's nothing you can do about it. Once it happens, it happens.”