” 7/10″ -Claim made over Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ actions as Sunderland AFC owner

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…

Kyril Louis-Dreyfus acquired a stake in Sunderland just over three years ago, but there was more to the Frenchman’s arrival that met the eye.

Following a 2022 reveal that he wasn’t the majority shareholder at the Stadium of Light, having just 41 per cent of the club compared to the 59 per cent made up of the likes of Juan Sartori, Charlie Methven and Stewart Donald, Dreyfus became the controlling stakeholder in June of that year.

It has been just Dreyfus and Sartori in the ownership group of the Wearsiders now, with the former owning 64 per cent of the club, and at the age of 26 he is the youngest owner in the EFL.

Sunderland were struggling in the third tier prior to his takeover, having plummeted down the divisions after years of mismanagement.

The Wearside outfit are in a more stable position at the moment, and challenged for promotion back to the Premier League last year.

It has been a more turbulent campaign on the pitch for the team this year, but there are still reasons to be optimistic about the future of the side.

Sunderland fan pundit gives Kyril Louis-Dreyfus rating

FLW’s Sunderland fan pundit Jack Austwicke believes that Louis-Dreyfus has done a positive job as owner of the club.

However, he feels there are areas that could be improved, also citing the incident with the bar at the Stadium of Light for the Newcastle United cup clash in January as a low point.

“I think I’d give Kyril a fair seven rating, which is positive – it’s a good rating,” Austwicke told Football League World.

“His appointments (such as sporting director Kristjaan Speakman) have made good signings and brought good people into the club.

“They’ve done positive things for the club, definitely, but there has been some negative things.

“Obviously the whole debacle with the Black Cats Bar back in the derby in January (when Newcastle United fans were given a hospitality area inside the Stadium of Light that is usually given to home supporters) – there’s certain areas where we could have invested more money but we haven’t yet.

But it remains to be seen – he’s still very early in the days of his tenure, I hope so anyway because I do quite like him.

“There’s certain things that maybe are yet to be revealed and we don’t know too much about, but I guess that remains to be seen.”

Sunderland AFC league position

Sunderland’s challenge of a play-off place this year has taken a huge dent in recent weeks, with the team currently in the middle of a seven game winless run.

Mike Dodds is in charge of the first team squad until the end of the campaign, as the club searches for a long-term replacement for Michael Beale.

Beale lasted just 12 games as head coach, having replaced Tony Mowbray in December.

Sunderland now sit 12th in the Championship table, 13 points adrift of a play-off place.

Managerial mess overshadowing smart Sunderland moves

Sunderland have made some very smart decisions in the last couple of years, which has been overshadowed by their poor choices regarding managers.

Replacing Tony Mowbray with Michael Beale proved to be a big own goal and hurt their season.

There is now a lot of pressure on the club to get the next appointment right, but the names the Black Cats have been linked with sound promising, with Danny Rohl and Will Still both mentioned as possible candidates.

If they can hire the right coach, then the squad has the potential to compete for promotion to the Premier League with one or two more solid first team signings, with someone capable of consistent goals a real need at the moment, and it will also make Louis-Dreyfus a more popular figure among all Sunderland fans.