Kyril Louis-Dreyfus pleads for 'level of realism' about Sunderland timeframe

Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is confident Sunderland will get back to the Premier League, but says he needs time to do it.

Kyril Louis-Dreyfus says he believes his ‘strategy’ is going to get Sunderland to the Premier League, but he has admitted it’s going to ‘take a little bit of time.’

Today marks the three-year anniversary of him taking control of Sunderland, who were then a club stripped to its bare bones and rotting away in League One.

It hasn’t always been plain sailing since, but the Black Cats are in a much stronger position than when the 26-year-old started.

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However, many fans understandably get sick of being told how far the club have come and believe the focus should be more on how far Sunderland have fallen from their days as an established Premier League club.

Louis-Dreyfus says he hears that, and he thinks those days will return. He just needs more time to do it.

“What we’re trying to do on the football side is invest in young talent and give them the opportunity and the belief,” Louis-Dreyfus told the Financial Times.

“This period we’re going through now is the longest Sunderland has ever been outside the Premier League. So this is not something that anyone is used to. We think our strategy is going to get us there.

“[When I arrived] there was no recruitment department, there was no data science department, there were no scouts, there was no academy manager. If you looked at the vacancies list, it was almost entirely vacant.

“While it seems like we’re completely different now, we have to keep a level of realism. These things take a little bit of time.”

Sunderland went into this season with hopes of promotion, but they have now all but faded away after two defeats in a week that left the Wearsiders four points adrift of the play-off positions.

Even if they get there, they would be real outsiders for promotion given the quality of the Championship this season.

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 “The uniqueness of the league is that every single team in the division goes into it with the hope, the investment and the belief that this is the year they’re going to get promoted,” Louis-Dreyfus said.

“It can shift very quickly, both ways. You can be bottom of the table and get promoted, and you can be top of the table and get relegated.

“For the [fans], it’s very exciting. But for the owners, it’s a very, very difficult league.”

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