Sunderland supporters' groups have issued a damning statement urging Stewart Donald to sack Phil Parkinson before selling the club and moving on.

The Black Cats have endured a torrid season so far and find themselves in 15th place in League One.

That's despite the club's initial aspirations of improving on last season's play-off finish by claiming automatic promotion with a top two spot.

The atmosphere surrounding the Stadium of Light has been poisonous in recent weeks with supporters deeply distressed by the current situation surrounding the club.

A Love Supreme, Roker Report, the Wise Men Say podcast and the Red and White Army have all put their names to a statement calling for wholesale change, saying that their support for the current structure has been eroded.

The statement in full reads: “For those at the Bolton match, you’ve earned some stripes. You were there when the club reached the lowest point in its entire history and it felt like it.

“A few fine saves from McLaughlin stopped us from losing at home to the bottom club in League One. As the chants for Super Kev reverberated around the stadium it became clear that the fans do not agree with the chosen appointment of Phil Parkinson.

“When he took a defender off for another defender the venom was too much for many to conceal. We were playing out for a clean sheet against a team that were nearly out of business less than 6 months ago.

“SAFC is a club with a proud history that deserves so much better than what we are currently being offered. As it stands we don’t know who is running the organisation within the club.

"We don’t expect to be playing in the Champions League, but we don’t expect to be set up defensively to the bottom club in League One at home on what is traditionally the biggest game of the season in terms of attendance. Nobody knows what the long term plan is and any trust that fans had in the boardroom has eroded.

Can you get 15 out of 15 on this Sunderland quiz?

"These are the fans who set attendance records for the division. The fans who have endured years of ineffective leadership within the club. Yet here we are. The ones hurting the most as a result of our current situation. Stewart Donald must act now.

"Things can only get better” has been a defiant chant in recent times but the sentiment is a flawed one.

“Things can get worse... and it continues to get worse. If there is a realistic offer on the table he must admit that the enormity of the task at hand and cut his losses. For our club to move forward now change needs to happen on the pitch, in the dugout and in the boardroom."

The verdict

It’s no surprise that supporters are at the end of their tether.

Despite early season predictions of a promotion challenge with a top six place being a minimum, it seems that the campaign is all-but over before we’ve even reached 2020.

Something is seriously wrong behind the scenes at the Stadium Of Light and fans who’ve paid their hard-earned money to watch a team in freefall over recent seasons have every right to feel aggrieved.