SOCCER: Sunderland's chairman Niall Quinn has written to 7,000 disaffected former season-ticket holders and will begin a series of large-scale meetings with them at a local social club from next Tuesday.
Although they had more than 36,000 at the Stadium of Light for last Saturday's visit of Derby County - more than double the attendance at Blackburn v Portsmouth the following day - Quinn argues that Sunderland need to have 40,000-plus crowds if they are to prove themselves "a big club".
"We've sent 7,000 letters out to lapsed season-ticket holders, people who came for a number of years, who enjoyed it here but who in the last couple of years have stayed away," Quinn explained. "We're saying, 'Come back, it's a little bit different now.' I know they were hurt, I know they were fed up and I know the apathy that was in the air, but we're trying to change that."
Sunderland, fourth in the Championship and with a match at second-placed West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, are the best-supported club in the division and took more than 6,000 fans to Sheffield Wednesday in January. But at home there has not been the same lift-off.
The Stadium of Light holds 49,000 but last season's humiliating relegation from the Premiership, a record low of 15 points and only one home win, means that the chairman is fighting a battle to fill it.
Quinn, whose Drumaville consortium only took over last July, acknowledges the disappointment the fans have endured - they were also relegated from the Premiership on 19 points in 2003 - but said: "We're trying to keep our side of the bargain.
"When I meet people who haven't come back I say to them that before last summer they said if there was a new regime they'd come back. Then they said if there was a good manager they'd come back, then they said if we signed players they'd come back, then they said if we won games they'd come back.
"We're kind of doing a lot on our side.
"I've sent these letters out to invite them to ask me about anything that is still bothering them. I'm trying to make them understand that the club is a different place now. Any bad experiences they have had I hope will be erased and we can make them proud of their club again. We kind of get the feeling that it's going that way, but I need the people.
"I called it a reconnection at the start and it has a chance now. We have six evenings arranged, players will be with me, a board member. It's to show the people that it's their club again.
"They fell out with the club but we want them back, there is a unity and a harmony now. There is a great opportunity to grow and be strong but ultimately we will only be a big club if we have 40,000-plus here every week.
"I have had my six months, I know a lot more about the whole ins and outs of what's required. But I still revert to the one thing: 40,000 crowds and we win more games. It's not a marketing ploy to get more money in. We've given a token rise to our ticket prices to end the eight-year freeze.
"We're very affordable, we have said to the people that if they come next year they come at a Championship price, but we could be in the Premiership. I sound like I'm marketing something but I'm not. The next thing we could do would be to go round their houses and drag them here. We hope people will believe."
Guardian Service
