SUNDERLAND chairman Bob Murray has forfeited £250,000 after admitting to feeling "inadequate'' as the club has gone into a spiral of decline and amassed debts of over £25m.

Millionaire Murray has taken a two-thirds cut in his £75,000-a-year salary, and with the Wearsiders having cancelled their dividend to shareholders, Murray misses out on a windfall of a further £200,000.

Sunderland, second bottom in the Premiership, are fighting for top-flight survival after picking up one point out of the last 12, losing four successive games in all competitions, and going eight hours without scoring.

Former manager Peter Reid, who has retained his shareholding in the club, spent £22m on ten players in a ten-month period before being sacked and replaced by Howard Wilkinson in October.

A staggering 59 per cent of Sunderland's turnover now goes on wages, nine per cent above the Premiership benchmark and 14 per cent more than that of bitter rivals Newcastle United, who are again chasing a Champions League place.

And Murray, whose re-election as football club chairman was overwhelmingly endorsed at yesterday's AGM at the Stadium of Light, has demonstrated his embarrassment over the Black Cats' plight by making a huge financial sacrifice.

"I feel inadequate,'' said Murray. "All those people at the AGM care so much about the club and they have come in record numbers.

"I wish somebody would give us a lot more stick, then I could get bitter about things.

"I got 390 votes against me and 5.2m for me and I think that's awesome. The fans never fail to amaze me.

"The club very much belongs to the supporters. I know that when things go wrong in football, it can always get worse.

"I remember when I first took the chair and we were in the old Third Division for the first time, we were at Roker Park, which - though much-loved - wasn't Premiership class.

"We lost 3-2 at Aldershot, 2-0 at home to Chester and were knocked out of the FA Cup at Scunthorpe.

"I was putting so much money into the club, either in cash or securities, just to keep it going.

"Now we are paying players who are on secure contracts and we have to get the best out of them. The only way forward is to stick together - we are fighters.

"I'm forced to take a salary of £75,000-a-year by the plc board and I've reduced that to £25,000. That's a public sign of my disappointment with the club's current playing position.

"Plus, we have automatically cancelled the dividend, saving the club about half a million pounds, of which I would have had 40 per cent. The finances of the club are the way they are because of what has happened over the past couple of years.

"Our wage bill is massive - given our position in the league, it's totally out of context.''

Murray said the mood at the club behind the scenes has "never been as low'' following Monday's disastrous 3-0 home defeat by Manchester City.

The AGM confirmed that Wilkinson, who brought in former Stoke boss Steve Cotterill as his assistant, has no money to spend to strengthen the squad when the transfer window opens next month - unless he can raise funds in the market.

Striker Kevin Phillips, rated at around £10m, is Sunderland's most saleable asset.

Asked if Phillips could be sold in the new year, Murray said: "I haven't got a clue. It's not my decision.

"I have never sold or bought a player - I haven't even met Phil Babb, Stephen Wright or Tore Andre Flo.

"If Howard sells players, he will get a proportion of the money back.''

Murray defended the club's decision to stick with Reid during last season's relegation battle.

"In January 2001, we were second in the Premiership and we finished seventh that season,'' said Murray. "Last year we were fourth bottom.

"But I really believe that if we hadn't had Peter here, we would have gone down and it would have led to a mass exodus of players.''

Pressed on whether he has any regrets about not dispensing with Reid's services in the summer, Murray said: "Hindsight is a great thing.

"All I will say is that I have an awful lot of confidence in Howard and Steve.

"What you get with Howard is a man who works 12 hours a day, won't sleep at night and is as honest as the day is long.

"Nobody has come up to me and said we have made a mistake in appointing Howard.

"The disappointment felt among the fans about the appointment I acknowledge was my fault. Howard was such a surprise choice that it got a bad reaction. If I'd leaked it, people would have thought about it and understood it. I knew I was walking into a hostile situation, like when I announced that the ground would be called the Stadium of Light.

"I chose the name and got an horrendous reaction. But I know I could not have made better appointments than Howard and Steve at this moment.

"Steve is a determined, focused guy - he's unbelievable and driven. I think he's unique.

"We looked at the whole of football. We did a Europe-wide search and had a data-bank on everybody, and three-quarters of them failed to meet the criteria because they couldn't speak English.

"The last time the fans chose a manager here, it was Terry Butcher.''

Murray insisted that Sunderland's abysmal home form - they have won only four games out of 18 on Wearside this calendar year - holds the key to their destiny this season.

"This team does not perform here anymore,'' he said. "We have lost the act altogether here - including me. I know on match days I'm not the guy I used to be.

"I don't look forward to games. After the Man. City game, you go home, sit in the car and you don't talk to each other. You get up the next day and it's like there has a been a bereavement. But if I didn't want it, I wouldn't be here.

"Our survival this season depends on how we control the situation at the Stadium of Light. There's a fear factor and a lack of confidence, and I know the players are sick of losing.''

With the spectre of relegation looming, Murray dismissed the notion that the salvation of cash-strapped First Division clubs could be the formation of a second tier of the Premiership.

"I don't believe there is the goodwill for there ever to be a Premiership Two,'' he said. "I don't think there's any support in the Premiership boardrooms for that.

"And there's a feeling among Premiership chairmen that Celtic and Rangers will never come into the Premiership because of the competition they would face for European places."

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