'His plan hasn't worked!': Sunderland legends urge Stewart Donald to make a bold decision

A number of supporters groups released a collective statement on Friday evening in a bid to encourage Donald to depart the club, and a number of former Black Cats have now urged the majority shareholder to move.

Among them is striker Steven Elliott, who posted on his Twitter account: “For the sake of the football club, surely the current owner has to listen to supporters.

“These fans don’t ask for the world but they deserve so much more than what is happening at the moment!

“His plan hasn’t worked so why not move club on and save some personal credibility?”

His views were echoed by Julio Arca, who insists he saw trouble coming from afar.

“The club been in a lot of trouble since many years ago, how can not one [sic] saw that before,” he posted on Twitter.

“I been saying this for a long time and now people is surprise to see Sunderland in this position. I personally see this coming, they been getting away of trouble for a long time.”

And in response to Arca, former Sunderland winger Andy Welsh said: “Not good mate when last summer the owner is doing interviews daily about how the club is going to move forward and a year a 2 managers later trying to sell it on.

“Sad times as when that place is rocking it's a very hard place to play.”