‘Football’s fabric will disappear’: the fear of Sunderland pioneer Sir Bob Murray

Former chairman who worked to transform the community and club worries owners now lack a sense of the game’s place

When Sir Bob Murray, who made his fortune in kitchens and bathrooms, became chairman of Sunderland in 1986, he replaced Tom Cowie, who owned a car dealership. For the five years that followed he was involved in a legal dispute over the acquisition of Cowie’s shares with another board member, Barry Batey, a local estate agent. They may at times have been bitterly opposed, but all three men were Sunderland fans. That’s how football used to be.

By the time Murray sold up 20 years later, to the Niall Quinn-fronted Irish consortium Drumaville, Roman Abramovich was installed at Chelsea and the era of oligarchs, states and private equity was under way. The ramifications of that change were profound and have not stopped rumbling yet.

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