SUNDERLAND Ladies are to revert back to being a part-time team after the club conducted a review.

The Lady Black Cats had a mix of part-time and full-time players and finished seventh in Women’s Super League One last year. That followed a fourth place in 2015 and a promotion winning campaign in the previous year.

But the ladies team has been hit with the blow as part of Sunderland Association Football Club’s decision to look into every aspect of the way the club is being run.

Chief executive Martin Bain said: “We are reviewing the operation of every aspect of the football club as we aim to improve, both on and off the field.

“Our support for women's football remains and we believe that at the present time this structure is a more effective way forward for all of us.”

Sunderland’s professionals, including those such as striker Beth Mead and Brooke Chaplen, could now leave if they are offered pro deals elsewhere.

The belief is that the current ‘mix’ is not working and a recent BBC study suggested that Sunderland were one of three top-flighjt cluns to see a decline in home crowds. It was stated that the average attendance at the Hetton Centre had fallen 24 per cent compared to 2015.

Women’s Super League clubs are set to receive an increase in funding from next season from the Football Association; WSL 1 teams will receive up to £92,500 having previously been awarded £70,000.

A Sunderland statement read: "Having a mix of full-time and part-time players was not working as effectively as the club, and indeed the players, had envisaged.

"With a number of the squad committed to careers or study, full-time football careers were not an option for them.

"A part-time model for players therefore ensures that students and those with careers such as teaching, can continue to be committed members of the first team squad, without having to make a choice between their career and football.”

Over the years Sunderland Ladies has produced some of the English game’s best players such as Jill Scott, Steph Houghton, Jordan Nobbs and Lucy Bronze.