Phil Smith: What Kyril-Louis Dreyfus needs to do next as share revelation leaves supporters feeling at an all-time low

Ahead of the meeting with the supporter collective tomorrow evening, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has confirmed the club’s shareholding structure.

He owns just 41% of the club, with the rest split up between the Madrox consortium.

It will likely be said next that no lies have been told, that when the club announced that he had ‘acquired Stewart Donald’s controlling interest’, they were being honest.

They were, to an extent.

It appears the shareholder’s agreement drawn up between the four gives Louis-Dreyfus what he describes as ‘executive control’, the ultimate power to make strategic decisions. He also continues to command a significant majority on the board.

The ownership group knew fine well, though, that this was not what they were presenting to fans.

Louis-Dreyfus knew what he was doing in initially clearing the board of Madrox influence, and in his first club interview adding that the club had been ‘asset-stripped’.

It was a targeted attempt to say to supporters that this was a new era, and it bought time, popularity and support.

Supporters who had long made clear that there should be no place for Madrox at Sunderland AFC and they now once again put their trust in the hope of better days.

Yet things began to change when Simon Vumbaca, a lawyer who had previously represented Madrox, joined the board alongside the returning Juan Sartori.

Now when Louis-Dreyfus spoke briefly on talkSPORT in the aftermath of the failure to win promotion from League One he referred to ‘an ownership group’, hinting at a collective approach to decision making.

Slowly but surely that strong rhetoric of the opening weeks was being rowed back on. And now we know why.

Given the opportunity to clarify matters in November, Louis-Dreyfus said that he could not due to ‘confidentiality clauses’ surrounding the agreement. That was telling.

Rather than opt for honesty and transparency, to open a dialogue with supporters about where their club stood and where it would go next, the ownership group opted to obfuscate.

Madrox did this when they arrived at the club, the journey to establishing what had actually happened regarding the club’s parachute payments and their purchase of the club taking two years.

Presumably, the gambit was that supporters would either not question it, or that they could delay until such a point that the club’s position was significantly improved and that the reaction might therefore be a little cooler.

It is quite staggering that they took the same position on this matter and the damage will be severe. His promise to lead Sunderland with ‘openness and transparency’ is tonight looking like an empty one, and he has to find a way to change that immediately.

He may well have ‘executive control’ over the club, but the idea that other members of the ownership group have no input has in recent weeks and months been exposed.

Charlie Methven was photographed on club business in Uruguay last year, and has continued to represent the club in the director’s box at away games. This was despite a litany of controversial and disrespectful comments to supporters, for which he later expressed regret, at a supporter collective meeting shortly before his resignation from the board.

This is why this is such an important issue, over and above the misleading of supporters. The timing of Lee Johnson’s sacking and the convoluted fortnight that followed showed that the decision-making process at the club is nowhere near as efficient and linear as it should be, and for the club to reach its potential that has to change.

Sunderland cannot progress to the level of their potential with Madrox in situ. The departure of academy products for modest fees, many leaving with the sense that the club didn’t really oppose it, the severe lack of footballing structure, the contempt they ultimately came to show supporters: the evidence is overwhelming.

Louis-Dreyfus has benefited from extraordinary attendances once again this season, built on the belief that this was a new era.

And there have been positive changes, investment, strong hires behind the scenes and the arrival of some encouraging assets, even if in some areas the execution at the end of January was wrong.

Sunderland’s chairman must realise now the extent to which the club’s supporters feel let down, and that their loyalty should not be taken for granted.

First and foremost, supporters need to know exactly what decisions have to go through the other shareholders, and exactly what role each is playing at the club. When are they consulted and on what issues?

It is inconceivable after the events of their tenure that Methven and Stewart Donald could have a substantive say in any footballing matters, in particular.

The latter has rarely been seen or heard from since the deal was struck, but the former’s recent prominence is clearly no coincidence and the blunt reality is there should be no role for him, official or otherwise.

There also needs to be some overdue honesty about how this structure and relationship develops over time.

Does Louis-Dreyfus have the appetite to assume proper control of the football club and are there already mechanisms in place to achieve it?

If not, then how does the football club progress?

Today’s revelations are about trust but they also confirm what is fundamentally holding the football club back. Madrox must go.

Louis-Dreyfus needs to show how he can change it - or he is genuinely running the risk of losing legions of supporters whose trust and faith in their club has slumped to an all-time low.

A message from the Football Clubs Editor

Our aim is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative Sunderland AFC coverage 365 days a year.

This depth of coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to, please consider taking out a subscription to our new sports-only package here.

Your support is much appreciated. Richard Mennear, Football Clubs Editor