SUNDERLAND supporters have been urged to keep on going after season card sales continued to surge after the change of ownership at the club.

After Stewart Donald, the club’s new owner, challenged fans to back the new regime and manager Jack Ross, the Wearside faithful have done just that.

Season card sales have now gone over the 18,000 mark, taking sales to in excess of 2,000 in the space of a week since Donald’s cry. The Black Cats are hoping to pass the 20,000 mark, a hugely impressive figure for a League One club.

Sunderland supporters who have bought a season card in recent years and are yet to renew will be receiving a postcard from Donald next week in a bid to convince them to come back.

He said: “There has been an amazing response, which we are hugely grateful for, but there is still a way to go to reach our target.

“I understand why people may have fallen out of love with their club and why they stopped coming and this is why I’m writing to them. I want them to know that this is a new Sunderland and we need them back.

“We want to make the Stadium of Light a vibrant, energising place to watch and play football, where fans will enjoy coming and we are doing everything within our power to encourage as many as possible to be part of what we are doing here.”

Sunderland’s season card prices at the Stadium of Light have been reduced for a limited time only, with fans paying up to 40 per cent less than they did last season.