SUNDERLAND'S fallen stars were last night warned they faced the axe as the club prepared for an apocalyptic financial future.

With the Black Cats saddled with debts of £25m and staring relegation in the face after two years of almost non-stop failure, chief executive Hugh Roberts vowed to get tough with the flops.

The ITV Digital collapse has left a plethora of Nationwide League clubs fighting for their lives, with Ipswich Town this week becoming the latest erstwhile Premiership side to go into administration.

Roberts is aware of the disastrous impact of relegation and he accepts top players like Kevin Phillips as well as some big-money failures would be sacrificed to alleviate inevitable cash problems.

He said: "The whole business changes if you go into the First Division and we will have to look at what our needs are next year.

"Certainly, some of the players that we have now will be sold.

"There will be some tough decisions to be made and we will make those at the time. No doubt some of the decisions will be unpopular with the fans.

"When a club is £25m in debt, you cannot just wander into a bank and ask for more money.

"The whole possibility of getting money in football has changed over the last 12 months and very few banks are willing to advance any more money.

"There are strict terms in player contracts, and at present there are no provisions for any change in their wages when they move from the Premiership or vice versa. It would obviously be advantageous for many clubs who are now in deep financial trouble to be able to use a clause which said that the wages dropped when you dropped a division.

"But whatever happens, whether we finish 17th and stay up or 18th and the worst happens, there will still be a major review of the squad. There will still be a number of players leaving, and that will give Howard Wilkinson an opportunity to bring in players that he might like."

Roberts also lent his support to beleaguered Sunderland chairman Bob Murray, who has been targeted for abuse and faced calls for him to resign as the club's Premiership prospects have grown increasingly bleak.

Murray has come in for particularly severe criticism since he appointed Wilkinson to replace the sacked Peter Reid, to whom he remained stoically loyal as fans demanded his dismissal.

But Roberts said: "I think it's wrong for people to shout 'Murray out'. At this moment in time, we should all be sticking together, and I couldn't possibly countenance anybody being so personal about it, although I appreciate they have the right to their own opinion.

"Nobody should be coming to matches and booing the players, or taking the easy option of shouting 'Murray out', because we need all the support we can get."

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