With owner Stewart Donald reiterating his desire to sell the club this week the manager’s focus is on maintaining a promotion push as high-flying Wycombe visit on SaturdayIt is a wet, windy Thursday lunchtime at Sunderland’s training ground and nervous eyes rest on a learner driver honing their reversing skills in the players’ car park.
![Phil Parkinson straining to keep dark clouds away from Sunderland | Louise Taylor](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9d711c2565648ef910d8dce8e19f4ccfe8d464f3/345_0_5394_3237/master/5394.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=740ff992972d16c4644ddc9ae34fa75a)
Back in the not so distant days when the Academy of Light was a
Premier League practice base, littered with Porsches and Bentleys, such a cameo would have been unthinkable. Now the absence of previously prominent security sentries afford this once state-of-the-art complex a slightly neglected, semi-deserted, air. With no one staffing main reception, the building’s plate glass front doors are locked.