'Their support is very odd' - Pundit takes swipe at Sunderland fans following Kyril Louis-Dreyfus interview

Simon Jordan and Trevor Sinclair discussed the Sunderland owner’s comments on the Jim White show on Wednesday afternoon.

Louis-Dreyfus signalled his clear backing to head coach Lee Johnson and spoke about future plans for the Wearside club’s future.

“The stadium they have got. The Stadium of Light with 40,000 seats,” Sinclair stated. “I played at the old Roker Park, they’ve come on a lot since then.

“I played against them under Peter Reid as manager and they really interested me. They’re a great team and a great club in the North East and passionate about their football.

“But they have been out of it for a while now and they need to get the fundamentals right. And the fundamentals are: get your academy right, start producing your own players, get the right people coaching there. And if they do that, you’ll start getting proper recruitment.”

But Jordan had his own opinion on Sunderland fans following the play-off semi-final clash between Crystal Palace – the club he then owned – and Sunderland back in 2004.

The Black Cats lost the first leg 3-2 away from home but won the second 2-1 at the Stadium of Light only to miss out on penalties.

“I don’t mean to be disrespectful to them in any shape or form and this is not me attempting to be so,” Jordan explained. “But their support is very odd.”

“When we played them in a play-off semi-final in 2004 when Mick McCarthy was the manager, we beat them 3-2 at Selhurst Park so they were well in the game.

“We go up to the Stadium of Light thinking that it was going to be an absolute cauldron and that it was going to be full to the rafters - and it wasn’t. It was nowhere near full to the rafters.

“So I think Sunderland have built this 48,000 seater stadium and I think the idea that it gets filled on a regular basis and that there’s this huge enthusiasm that can be easily harnessed, I’m not so sure that’s quite how it is.”

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