The Lads of the RR Editorial and Management team gathered together in the darkness to conspire to keep each other awake.. and chat all things SAFC in the process. There is still £8.6m of parachute money due to Sunderland between August 2019 and July 2020. Exclusive. This would no longer be a club where people could come in and ‘take the p***’ financially. The proposed takeover would have to be approved by the EFL in its 'Owners and Directors' Test'. New Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, who took over the club at the end of last week, has already begun to make small improvements. Sunderland’s new majority owners will have to decide whether to install a new academy director to replace Paul Reid, who left in the summer, with … The Swiss billionaire's majority takeover of the Black Cats has now been approved by the EFL and Sunderland supporters have been reacting to the big news on social media. The notion that I am going to leave Sunderland in the short-term, having made a quick profit, is simply wrong.’. Sunderland AFC are hopeful that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus' takeover of the club could be approved by the EFL this week – according to reports. Sunderland takeover: International consortium agrees deal to buy club. Sartori's consortium is understood to include Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, the 22-year-old son of former Marseille owner Robert Dreyfus. The American lost some £250m in his bungled attempt to establish Sunderland as a Premier League powerhouse, only to see them drop to the third tier. The Sunderland takeover is seemingly edging ever nearer and the Echo understands Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has been at the Academy of Light today. A multi-millionaire and lifelong Oxford United fan who owned National League club Eastleigh for six years. The club announced current owner Stewart Donald had agreed a deal which would see Kyril Louis-Dreyfus become the majority shareholder. Donald’s insurance company offered discounts to Sunderland fans. Sunderland's owners used £32million of Premier League parachute payments to buy the club from Ellis Short last year. ‘They have been portrayed as Batman and Robin,’ said one insider on Wednesday. Sources say the Sunderland academy that has long been the club’s crown jewel is in danger of losing its Category One status. It was actually £14.6m, with £9.6m from the club accounts and a further £5m provided by the new majority shareholder owner. The EFL knew parachute money formed part of a deal and still allowed the takeover to go ahead. Sunderland on the verge of takeover by consortium including 25th richest man in the WORLD as owner Stewart Donald prepares to sell majority share Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies, is … Ellis by writing off his own debt of £80m and then, with the assistance of that last parachute payment, paying off the £70m of bank debt the club had accrued. Donald just had to demonstrate he could finance running the club to take over. But an £11.92m loan from merchant banking group Close Brothers, which was secured in April, has enabled the payments up until August to be advanced and much of it paid out via Madrox Partners. But two men who seduced Sunderland’s fans with their long-term vision for ‘a family club’ would return to their own family homes in Oxfordshire significantly richer. A one-time Samson the Cat, the club mascot, was appointed their new managing director. “When we entered into negotiations with Ellis Short three years ago, Sunderland was nearly £200 million in debt, was losing £35 million per annum, and had all but been relegated to League One. They declared Sunderland ‘debt-free’ after succeeding Short as owners. And me by refusing to “port” Ellis’ debt on to our books. I am just wondering if people know when the next football manager update will be and whether people think the situation at Sunderland will be updated. The answer to that question is critical given everything else that is going on. Fresh reports have emerged claiming a takeover at Sunderland could be completed by the end of September. Methven insists Donald could yet remain as a shareholder, from anywhere from ‘25 to 55 per cent’, but Sportsmail has seen correspondence that makes clear Donald and Methven’s desire to sell for £50m. The concern, expressed by insiders, is whether Donald has the funds or inclination to continue financing Sunderland. Sunderland takeover: Bad news emerges for Sartori and Dreyfus. Only now — after being challenged by this newspaper — have they admitted this was central to an agreement that saw Donald commit only £5million of his own money in the £37m takeover. Mikel Arteta 'facing Arsenal revolt after senior players express frustration at being blamed for team's woes'... while Spaniard's tactical prowess is also 'being questioned' with club in bottom half of the Premier League, History-maker Rachael Blackmore becomes the first woman to win the Grand National as she leads 11/1 shot Minella Times to a comfortable victory at Aintree just weeks after dominating the Cheltenham Festival, Real Madrid win El Clasico! The 21-year-old has just over a year remaining on his contract and though Sunderland are keen to … Kyril is understood to have a £2bn trust fund which is held by his mother Margarita, who is … Donald and Methven have never provided any real clarity on the importance of the parachute money to the takeover. They promised to re-engage with the club’s disenchanted supporters. Should a rebrand be part of this? On Wednesday, however, in a statement to Sportsmail, Donald said: ‘Madrox agreed a deal worth £40m with Ellis Short. I don’t have an agenda. Plans are in place to install ‘a state-of-the-art’ pitch lighting system to boost the playing surface at a cost of £500,000. Sunderland director Juan Sartori (L) with fellow director Methven (right) and supporters. Only seen the report on a few sites, I am not convinced that will happen. I have never been a fan of them, from getting supporters in to replace the seats to the twitter presence, the denigration of agents via the podcasts, the undermining of the manager with the 100 point malarkey, the different accounts of the money that was used to purchase … On May 21, 2018, only 24 hours after Short had fired manager Chris Coleman and declared he was off, too, Donald and Methven assured supporters in an interview with Sunderland fan podcast Roker Rapport that life would be different on their watch. He co-founded the PR firm Dragon Advisory and remains chairman. Sunderland Takeover Update. Asked specifically if the parachute money had been paid to Short, Methven replied: ‘I don’t accept in so many words we have (paid Short) because effectively the money has never touched either us or Short. No regulations will have been breached and no laws would have been broken. But, as a Sportsmail investigation reveals, Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven struck a deal with former owner Ellis Short to buy the club using Premier League parachute payments. A month earlier Donald admitted money he was paying for the club to Short was being used to pay off debt, but failed to specify that the club’s parachute payments were being used. To pay off the last bit of the debt he otherwise hadn’t paid off.’. Charlie Methven (left) and Stewart Donald (right) bought the club with only £5million. Fan Letters: Sunderland takeover & promotion concerns on today’s agenda. ‘So together Ellis and I ensured that the club would be debt free. Methven said the money was not, however, paid to Short but to SBC (the Security Benefit Corporation) in America. He argued this week that a year in charge has cost Donald a further £10m, although he provided no evidence of this. Donald has been trying to sell the club for nearly a year after supporters campaigned for him to leave following a positive start. In what has been described a tense exchange, Short is said to have stressed that he was losing so much money — reportedly as much as £500,000 a week — he was ready to simply pull the plug. The Sunderland chairman, a popular figure with fans, also insisted he is still committed to the club ahead of Sunday’s League One play-off final against Charlton. But Sportsmail has seen evidence that £9.6m of that initial £15m payment was also financed using parachute money already sitting in Sunderland’s accounts. BLACK CATS owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is itching to spend if they go up. Six weeks later […] Stewart Donald wants £35 million up front to sell Sunderland AFC with an add-on of an extra £5million if the club are promoted to the Championship this season, according to a new report. An agreement to … ‘That money is secured against parachute payments but that is just him making sure he gets the full value of the £40m from us.’. Sportsmail understands that Donald only had to demonstrate he could finance the running of the club to meet the EFL criteria for ownership. Financial power at Sunderland will presumably be pretty high in ordinary circumstances, but in this case, the salary cap is set to play against them. Sunderland takeover on 07:34 - Aug 23 with 4749 views: BlueySwede: Maybe. If they succeed with their plan, which has broken no laws nor breached any regulations, to sell Sunderland only 12 months on, they stand to make a fortune. This was £15m plus last summer’s parachute payment of £25m, which came in just after we took over and was ring-fenced to pay off the last bit of bank debt. But it would, because Donald would have been forced to find the money up front rather than commit future parachute payments to the deal. As Premier League clubs pay out more than £272million to agents, the Manchester City star has the brains and ambition to win more than just a salary hike, Paul Pogba's Manchester United team-mates 'are desperate for him to stay at and would be DEVASTATED if he left Old Trafford this summer'... as speculation rumbles on over a possible return to Juventus for the Frenchman. The host of the podcast was also hired after being one of those questioning the details of the takeover deal, in particular whether Donald planned to pay Short with Premier League parachute payments rather than his own money. He did not deny that parachute money was then used to cover the remaining part of the deal, with the final £8.4m of the £31.988m paid only last month. NEWCASTLE are monitoring Sunderland loanee Dion Sanderson with a view to signing him, according to reports. ‘Well the deal is not quite what we thought it was and let’s see what happens now.’. By Mark Donnelly Monday, 15th February 2021, 8:15 am Contacts close to Louis-Dreyfus in France reveal that he has earmarked £60million for new faces for Sunderland. If Sunderland secure promotion back to the Championship on Sunday with victory over Charlton at Wembley, the fans may salute two men they regard as the saviours of their club. This was subject to a successful take-over by Whitbread PLC in the autumn of 2000. Sanderson is currently on loan from Wolves and has earned rave reviews for his performanc… Sunderland Association Football Club (/ ˈ s ʌ n d ər l ə n d / (), locally / ˈ s ʊ n d l ə n /) is an English professional football club based in the city of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear.Sunderland plays in League One, the third tier of English football.Since its formation in 1879, the club has won six top-flight (First Division, now the Premier League) titles (1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913 and 1936), a total only bettered … A trust fund currently held by his mother stands at around £2 billion. I believe they got this football club for a song and yes, have done some work around cutting costs. On Sunday the focus will only be on Sunderland’s ability to beat Charlton. In correspondence seen by this newspaper, however, the desire to sell to a new owner is made clear. This time last year, Donald and Methven arrived on Wearside, the former a 44-year-old insurance millionaire who sounds a little like David Brent, the latter a smooth-talking financial PR man and former journalist Private Eye recently described as a ‘Brylcreemed, perma-tanned, Thatcher-worshipping Old Etonian Hooray’. Sartori already has a seat on the Sunderland board. Evidence seen by Sportsmail has revealed that chairman Stewart Donald and executive director Charlie Methven committed only £5m of Donald’s money as part of the £37m takeover to secure control of the club a year ago. Alan Nixon; ... “It has been many years now where the club had no real long-term vision and also cost-cutting at its forefront, which basically led to an asset-stripping in almost all departments, which required rebuilding from the start. Sunderland's potential promotion rivals in League One conclude £40m takeover deal He can stroll into the Colliery Tavern, a pub across the road from the Stadium of Light, in his red chinos on match days and enjoy a pint with the locals. "It shouldn’t matter how much our transfers cost or how many we sign as long as they are the right fit for what is required, and they provide everything we’re currently lacking" writes Gary Engel. The report goes on to say that any English club would have to pay a £150,000 compensation fee to the Scottish Premiership side, an obstacle for Sunderland … From the super agency to Sunderland's former CEO - The 30 deals that cost Newcastle £11m in fees Newcastle United's 30 deals that cost £11million can be revealed nechronicle Ellis Short allowed the pair to buy the club using Premier League parachute payments. New, 4 comments. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group, OLIVER HOLT: Thank God for Kevin De Bruyne! ROKER RAPPORT EDITORIAL - Chatting Sunderland Takeover and Transfer Rumours, and your questions! The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. 1 month. Kyril Louis Dreyfus (second left) and Maurice Louis Dreyfus (second right). Sunderland have received approval from the Football League for Kyril Louis-Dreyfus to acquire a controlling interest in the club. This, however, does not exactly tally with the precise details of the deal that have now been uncovered by this newspaper. While there are no Premier League regulations regarding how a club spends the money, the payments were introduced to protect clubs from the financial pressures of relegation from the top flight. OLIVER HOLT: Thank God for Kevin De Bruyne! Sunderland owner Stewart Donald has agreed a deal in principle to sell his majority stake in the League One club to an international consortium led by current minority investor Juan Sartori. Where Sunderland's new owners will look to invest once takeover is complete Current Black Cats owner Stewart Donald took … The owners have only been in a year but could still flip the club for a handsome profit, Donald has endeared himself to the locals and insists he is still in it for the long haul. Mar 16, 2021 #244 According to evidence seen by Sportsmail, allied with a forensic examination of published accounts at Companies House, Donald committed only £5m in the form of a loan. By Richard Mennear. The money was channelled through Madrox Partners Limited, a company incorporated on May 2, 2018 by Donald and Methven and used, in Methven’s words, as ‘an accounting route’ because ‘parachute payment money has to be paid into the club accounts’. When contacted by Sportsmail, Methven did not deny any of this. Aiden McGeady says Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ takeover plans mean it is an ‘exciting’ time for the Sunderland dressing room. If we were in the PL fair enough, but even then, you’ve got to … The BBC are reporting that John Phelan, Glen Fuhrman, Rob Platek and Michael Dell are close to completing their takeover of Sunderland AFC. Started on 19 February 2021 by euanw Latest Reply on 19 February 2021 by fc.cadoni. The supporters see Donald and Methven as the antithesis of Short, the billionaire who came to be regarded as aloof, elusive and neglectful. Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has completed his takeover of Sunderland, reports Philip Buckingham. First-half goals from Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos hand Zinedine Zidane's side... Jurgen Klopp says Trent Alexander-Arnold 'is not really bothered' about talk over his England place as he... Marvellous Matsuyama leads the Masters! I am clear that I wish to retain a significant investment in the club for the long-term. 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Insiders believe the total expense for Donald is closer to £7m. ‘The reality when you do this kind of deal, and there is still money outstanding on the deal, is that the person who has that money outstanding will want to take security against something so that if the owners then didn’t pay, he would have something to cover his money. Fresh claims of a significant step in the Sunderland takeover process have prompted as many questions as there are answers. Oxford-educated Methven has been particularly masterful. Sunderland Takeover Latest Kyril Louis-Dreyfus on Wearside and Attending Games Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, whose family is reportedly worth around £6 billion, attended the away game at Shrewsbury Town last week. Fans advocating change fail to consider the cost of undertaking such a project, I think it’s the last thing we should be considering based on where we are. “Kryil’s commitment, acumen and integrity convinced us to accept his proposal,” said Donald. A sizeable chunk of the parachute money has gone, meaning any new owner has to use their own money to finance the club. Some details have emerged of an attempted takeover of Newcastle United by MSD Partners, before they were approached by Sunderland. Just as it did with their north-east rivals Newcastle, Sunderland's takeover is beginning to have an element of spice added to it. Sunderland overcame Portsmouth to reach the play-off final and they will take on Charlton. 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What’s wrong is doing so whilst claiming to be doing the opposite. Takeover Confirmed: Sunderland AFC have a new majority shareholder in Kyril Louis-Dreyfus. Donald and director Charlie Methven - star of the club's Netflix documentary - are set to retain minority stakes in the club should the deal go through. Methven argued that, while it might have been more palatable for Short to have cleared all the debt and then demanded the full £40m from Donald, the end result would have been no different. ‘Instead of having last summer’s parachute payment to settle these debts, Juan Sartori and I have had to inject our own money and continue to do so even now, effectively writing down the £25m parachute payment that was advanced to Ellis. Mackems owner Stewart Donald has … The Daily Record claim that uncertainty around Sunderland’s takeover situation could cost us in our apparent pursuit of Motherwell winger Chris Cadden. SUNDERLAND have confirmed a takeover by 22-year-old Kyril Louis-Dreyfus whose parents are worth £4.2BILLION. It’s gone straight to SBC, the bank.’ Asked then if that was part of the deal struck with Short, Methven replied: ‘Yes. As Premier League clubs pay out more than £272million to agents,... Paul Pogba's Manchester United team-mates 'are desperate for him to stay at and would be DEVASTATED if he... Mino Raiola 'wants Erling Haaland to be the first ever £1MILLION-per-week footballer' after embarking on... Mikel Arteta 'facing Arsenal revolt after senior players express frustration at being blamed for team's... History-maker Rachael Blackmore becomes the first woman to win the Grand National as she leads 11/1 shot... Real Madrid win El Clasico! According to the club’s official website, Louis-Dreyfus has become the club’s new chairman with immediate effect.. Stewart Donald, Juan Sartori and Charlie Methven will retain a minority shareholding in the League 1 club. Cost cutting is an unpleasant but fairly easy decision making process, nor is it a wrong one at times. Sunderland AFC news: Automatic promotion rivals face potential goalkeeping crisis, League One club concludes £40m takeover deal, Newcastle United 'leading the race' for third tier starlet Is Sunderland on the brink of being sold, or have takeover talks stalled in the midst of a global health pandemic? ... Sunderland takeover complete - full details The EFL have approved the deal which sees Louis-Dreyfus take a majority shareholding in the Black Cats.