Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven met the media yesterday at the Stadium of Light to usher in a new era for Sunderland AFC.
Read the full Q&A from yesterday’s press conference below, including the latest on the club’s hunt for a new manager, summer transfer plans and much more.
Why Sunderland?
SD: “Well, it’s Sunderland. It’s as simple as that. As soon as I was aware that it was available, and as soon as you get into the detail, you’ve just got to try to see if you can get the deal done. Luckily for me, that’s what’s happened. If you’re passionate about football and Sunderland comes on the market, and you’re available to have a football club, you’ve got to think seriously about it. Luckily it’s me.”
When did the deal finally go through?
SD: “About 20 minutes ago – no, last night it all got finalised. The league obviously approved it on Friday, and we had a couple of little details we needed to tidy up but nothing that was ever going to be an issue. That’s all done and here we are now.”
Can you tell us how it all came about; did you approach Ellis Short?
CM: “I’ve known Ellis for a while and I spoke to him about five weeks ago. He said that he was looking to sell and that’s no great secret, but the moment had come where he’d decided to sell by the end of the season because he felt the club needed to have a full summer with the new owners, and he didn’t want to let the situation drift. He felt that with a couple of the the groups he was speaking to the situation was drifting, and I said that I had the right guy to take it over, and from there things moved pretty quickly. We had two or three weeks to do the due diligence and that all went smoothly – it was hectic to do an exercise that complex in two or three weeks and there were a lot of all-nighters, and a lot of very tired lawyers by the end of it – but we got through it, and Ellis has been extremely constructive throughout. He really tried to help us get it over the line in the timescale that he indicated, and the last couple of weeks have been dealing with the Football League approval process and tidying up a few loose ends.”
There’s lots of figures being bandied about, what can you tell us about the deal?
SD: “We’ve given Ellis £40m, so that’s the deal price. In return for that, Ellis has organised his debt that he’s tidied up and that’s now gone from the football club. That’s not ported to us or anything like that, and I think with some of the other deals that was going to port across, but Ellis was very clear that he didn’t want the debt, but we didn’t want it either. We refused that benefit, which is only a paper-tax benefit, but nonetheless is leaves Sunderland with that, but we said to Ellis no, you wipe it we won’t take it, so the reality of it is that Sunderland is debt free. Which I would think hopefully for the fans, and everybody else, is good news."
CM: “Just to be quite clear on that, people who have followed the Sunderland situation closely will understand that there is a considerable cash requirement this summer. So, the discussion with Ellis was that we will be able to pay him over a period of time because he knew that we were going to have to quite a lot of investment that needed to be made this summer in making sure the situation is as clean as possible. Fundamentally, as Stuart said, the price is £40m and Sunderland will end up debt free.”
How much money will you be able to generate to try and get the team out of League One?
SD: “As much as is needed I would hope because the reality is in League One the transfer fees aren’t large. Looking at the numbers we’ve put through, the budget for Sunderland is going to be pretty hefty for League One and is going to be a lot more, I would imagine, than any of the teams that go promoted last season have got. We can generate what funds we need for that, but obviously as Charlie mentioned, there’s quite a huge discrepancy between the remaining player income in relation to transfer sales and going out. That needs funding, which we’ve committed to fund of course, so we then tidy up that situation and it leaves us neutral, and then basically we’re looking at the playing budget of which there will be transfer fees involved in the players we bring in. That’s going to be a good budget for Sunderland and I’m sure it will be a budget that one or two Championship clubs would like.”
When can we expect to see a new manager?
SD: “Very soon, I hope. We’re obviously going to start looking through that process and I would think probably seven days maximum before we’ve got a new manager. Obviously, we have to move because we need the manager to have as much of the summer as possible to assemble the squad that he wants and assess what he’s got. I would be very surprised if by the weekend we’re not able to sort of tell you who that will be.”
CM: “The reality is, as you’ll understand, is that you can have notional conversations but until you’ve taken over the football club, they are notional conversations. Now the situation changes and Stuart will be in a position to have what I would call serious conversations with the candidates.”
It was said initially that you were part of an international consortium. Can you tell is any more about that?
CM: “The story of the last four of five weeks has been interesting because what became clear very early in the process is that the timescale was getting very crunched, and that anything that delayed the process of the takeover was going to have a material impact on this summer’s business. We took advice from contacts of ours in and around the game, and the Football League, and what became clear was that the process would quicker and more straightforward if the club was simply taken over by Stuart. Now, there are other people who we both have in mind who have further capital and further contacts that we think could be useful for Sunderland going forward, and there are people who have expressed an interest to Stuart and me in having a stake in the club going forward, but Stuart will be the majority shareholder whatever happens. It may well be that in the future people arrive and bring added expertise and capital to our group, but at the moment it’s Stuart and to a lesser degree me.”
I think everybody in football would recognise the opportunity a club like Sunderland gives you, but in perhaps housing terms it’s a bit of a fixer-upper. You’re not walking into an easy job are you?
SD: “No, it will be good fun. There’s a lot to do and that’s part of the challenge, so we’ll just get our teeth into it. There’s a lot to do clearly – after two relegations – and you can tell from the fans that they just want the football club to be successful and to be a part of it, and you get a bit of a sense they don’t quite feel like that at the moment. There’s a lot to do with the fans and a lot to do with the community, and a lot to do with the playing squad. It’s a big job, but I’m not scared of that.”
CM: “The bottom line is we’re both very much roll your sleeves up people. Ellis has largely been an absentee owner, I don’t think that’s a controversial thing to say, but that will not be the case with us and we’ll be very hands on. Both of us create and run businesses and we like to get involved in all aspects of it, we’re not saying we’re going to be running the first team, but other than that you’ll see us out and about quite a lot. The bottom line is that this summer there needs to be a turnaroud, and that’s not just a notional turnaround but one of culture as well, because this is an organisation that’s been used to failure for far too long. Over the last ten years this club has lost more games than any other club, so there’s a real proper job on its hands to get everyone facing in the same direction and ready to be successful again.”
Can I ask, how much did you gentlemen have to do with the departure of Chris Coleman?
SD: Nothing at all, that’s completely Ellis. Ellis’ situation with regards to all of the business prior to us being involved is down to Ellis. He wanted to make sure the football club was tidied ed up in loads of areas for us – or whoever else it might have been – and the reality in that scenario is that only from now will you see us take charge of the football club and see the impact that we have.”
The previous owner decided that was not something he would do – sit in front of the media or engage very much with the fans – is that something you intend to continue? For example, I know you’re going to do a podcast later on…
SD: “The football club is for the fans so they want to know what’s going on at their football club. If I don’t tell them what’s going on, they aren’t going to know. I imagine, especially during the early period, there will be lots of questions and lots of questions about why we make decisions we’re going make over the next few weeks. The fans will want to know the answers so they will have to ask the questions, and I'll have to answer them, so I imagine – very regularly – we will have forums, meetings like this, and I’ll be available to tell the fans what they need to know.”
How excited are you?
SD: Unbelievably excited. Nervous, because it’s a big commitment, but very excited. I went to bed at 2am this morning and I was up by 4am, and I was waiting at 6am for someone to come and open the doors so I could get on with it.”