Sunderland have shown real improvement over the festive period to fire themselves back into promotion contention in League One. 

The Black Cats are now sat fifth in the third-tier standings, and will be hoping they can make a timely return to the Championship this term under the guidance of Phil Parkinson.

There has been activity off-the-field as well this season, with Sunderland owner Stewart Donald rumoured to be interested in selling the club.

In an interview with the Sunderland Echo, former Black Cats midfielder Alex Rae issued his thoughts on any potential rumoured takeover, and claims that everyone needs to be pulling in the right direction both on and off the pitch.

"When I go back to my time at Sunderland, we had a chairman who was very much trying to take the club in the right direction.

"Bob built the Stadium of Light and had a trusted nucleus of players and staff and a good group of youth players too. If you can get all those elements rolling in the right direction then you can have a very good club."

Rae went on to highlight the importance of Donald getting any potential deal over the line as quickly as possible, as it means they can focus on matters on the pitch.

"The perfect example is my old club Wolves. They’ve got a good manager, good players and the fans are loving it.

“It’s important that if they want to sell, the quicker someone can takeover the club and drive them forward the better - because that has to come from the boardroom.

"But if these guys are willing to dig in and back the manager then people should get behind them."

Sunderland are next in action when they take on Bristol Rovers at the Stadium of Light in a game they'll be confident of picking up three points in as they look to strengthen their grip on a top-six finish this season.

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The Verdict: 

They'll be hoping that this takeover talk doesn't impact results on the pitch.

I agree with Rae when he talks about advising Donald to act swiftly if he is looking to sell the club, but I can't see him doing that anytime soon to be honest.

Sunderland are a team that are showing improvement on the pitch, which could mean that a potential promotion into the Championship is on the cards.

Therefore, any owner would be stupid if they were to consider selling the club straight away if they're in the position they're in, when they could be worth a considerable amount more if they were to win promotion this term.