Pretty sure the father passed on a few years ago and the son has a fair bit of money in trust. This investment has been long touted. As I understand it Stewart Donald will be retaining a fair-sized stake, although the detail may have changed in recent weeks. It's a massive club with a lot of potential but has suffered rank bad management over a period of time. It will be interesting to see if these are the real deal.
I have said this a few times but if you can watch "Sunderland til i die" on Netflix, Great programme and shows how not to run a club, Donald is in the second series.
The Will Grigg purchase should have won a British Comedy Award.
Plus the player (Can't remember his name) who said he was not leaving and they believed it! You only had to see his face and body language to see he had no intention of staying on.
Josh Maja? Currently at Fulham on loan.
Was that his name? Think he went to play in France. I always recommend that programme to watch, It shows the madness of football, Owners who just shouldn't own clubs, Managers who come and go and fans who you most feel sorry for.
It was Josh Maja. He looked quite the prospect that season; and is starting to fulfil that potential. The narrative of the documentary was that they made him a very good offer (albeit in his final year) and that the agent turned the player's head. There may be some truth in that - equally it could just be that they made a pretty derisory offer to start with (alluded to in the documentary) and/or they were never in a position to get close to the package on offer from Bordeaux. I've got a good friend who is a Sunderland fan and another who has some knowledge of Donald at Eastleigh - which made the whole thing even more interesting to watch. You're right that it's a terrific documentary - largely because of the subject matter and that there's no triumphant ending. I watched the Amazon docs on Man City and Spurs - which were both mildly diverting in places; but the Sunderland one felt much more representative of being a football fan. It's a shame there's no third series in the pipeline.
It was a shame, Perhaps this new chap might be interested in a 3rd one? When they lost the POF you could see in Donald's face and his sidekick (The smary city type) knew the game was up and couldn't afford to run it anymore. I live in Eastleigh and been to a few games and always thought what on earth was Donald thinking, Owning Eastleigh is nothing like owning Sunderland, Ego trip or a huge mistake?
Didn't Donald end up using the remaining parachute payment to part-finance his takeover? If they'd got the club up at the first attempt I expect they could have made a pretty decent return with little, if any, outlay. As it is both Donald and Methven have retained a stake.
I have no problem with private ownership, The guy in charge of your club now did and seems to be doing things the right way, Not promising the earth but a careful financial plan and hopefully progress on the pitch too.