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Yorke leads Sunderland exodus
Sunderland, 16:01, May 28, 2009 ,
Dwight Yorke is among seven players released by Sunderland with David Connolly, Arnau Riera and Darren Ward also shown the door.
Former Manchester United star Yorke, 37, has made 56 appearances for Sunderland scoring six goals but hardly featured for the Black Cats this season.
Goalkeeper Nick Colgan and young defenders Peter Hartley and Niall McArdle have also been released by the Wearsiders as the club look to reshape their squad after narrowly avoiding relegation last season.
Sunderland's survival came as a massive relief to Ellis Short, the Texas-based billionaire who confirmed his decision to complete a 100 per cent takeover of Sunderland yesterday, who was in the crowd as Sunderland went down 3-2 at home to Chelsea.
He said: "Probably like every other good Sunderland Football Club fan, I'm ecstatic and if I had to pick one word, it would be 'relieved', relief that two months of fear and nervousness is over.
"This club has a lot of reasons to stay up. We have got a lot of good plans for the future and relegation would have been horrible, so I'm relieved and happy."