Stewart Donald’s big Sunderland gamble and the issues that have followed

The latest revelations to emerge in The Times that Sunderland’s owners are presiding over a £20 million hole in the club’s finances, plugged up by the use of Premier league parachute payments, which were used by the current owners in 2018, is the crown jewel on a crown of thorns piling on the growing misery of SAFC fans.

With no takeover in sight, no promotion in reach and a league facing abandonment, it is fair to say now that the club is facing the darkest moment in its entire history and there is no way out on the horizon.

Who is responsible? There can be no others named other than Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven, and at this point there is no mistake about it. The two men effectively purchased a club that they could not afford with the aim of securing a quick and easy promotion on the back of investing as little as possible, which would then be in turn used to sell the outlet for as maximum profit as possible.

It hasn’t worked; in fact, the gamble has backfired in almost every way conceivable and in the process has exposed the shoddy foundations their rule has been built upon, transforming us into a club that nobody will touch.

Sunderland AFC

The arrival of two new owners following the miserable closing years of the Ellis Short tenure seemed to be a breath of fresh air to Sunderland fans, and Stewart and Charlie very much marketed themselves as so.

Although Short illustrated his care to the fans by forgiving the debt owed to him, the club had, nonetheless, been badly managed on a financial level having been wrecked by years of disastrously overpriced signings who failed to deliver. This left us with a club living well beyond its means.

Stewart Donald presented himself as the man to fix this and with a cheerful face, effectively communicating the message to the fanbase that adjustments would be needed in order to adapt to life in League One. Most people understood this and accepted it. However, there was a catch, perhaps it wasn’t just the club living beyond its means, was Stewart as well?

Whilst it was already known he was purchasing the black cats in installments to Ellis Short, the latest revelation now confirms that he had utilized the parachute payments - the money offered by the Premier League in order to help relegated teams adapt to life outside the top flight - to pay for SAFC. This meant that the void in the club’s finances had become bigger, faster and deeper than people even realized.

As The Times notes, it now constitutes a £20 million black hole.

SAFC.com

The result has seen many aspects of the club, such as the academy, stripped to the bone - not surprisingly, it has also completely hampered any attempts for the club to be sold.

As such, it can be argued that Donald’s gamble simply hasn’t gone according to plan. In making these decisions, both he and Charlie Methven have taken a huge gamble - that gamble was to invest as little as possible, provide the basics, oversee a swift and decisive promotion back to The Championship, fill in the hole in the club’s incoming finances and then immediately sell it onwards. Minimum investment, maximum profit.

In Stewart’s mind, all the advantages that SAFC held as a more prestigious club in League One made this gamble likely seem an absolute certainty: its status, stadium and fanbase would ensure it had what takes to rebound quickly, even with some concerning internal problems.

Unfortunately, the gamble didn’t work. A poor managerial choice in Jack Ross, combined with poor player recruitment choices and the flogging of key asset Josh Maja, created an unholy trinity of factors which failed to get Sunderland over the line to promotion. The resulting situation quickly exposed to the fans that his entire tenure was built on sand.

As a result, we started the following season with even less investment and even less of a plan. It shows. Without the resources or capability to take us forward, Stewart has seemingly panicked and sought to press forward with a sale. However, his short-term focused financial decisions have also ensured this has had limited success. The club’s finances are a black hole and buyers do not see an attractive proposition on the table.

Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images

So, what now?

Even without the impacts of the Coronavirus, a third year in the third tier seemed highly likely. Furthermore, on the face of things, SAFC completely lacks any kind of masterplan, strategy or capability.

There can be little doubt at this stage at the tenure of Stewart Donald was not just another false dawn, but in fact a disaster in the wings, which has hollowed the club out into an empty shell and plunged it into what is unarguably the most miserable and frustrating period in its entire history.

If and when Donald leaves the club, history will not look back kindly on him.