Owner who steered club on a disastrous course will never be forgiven by loyal fans

ELLIS Short’s decade-long stewardship of Sunderland will go down as the most disastrous chapter in the club’s history.

In 2008, the American businessman bought a club on the up – one that had been promoted in 2007, that had established a foothold back in the Premier League, finishing 15th following promotion to the top flight, under the popular if enigmatic figure of manager Roy Keane, and with chairman Niall Quinn’s mix of easygoing charm, and passion for Sunderland AFC, providing the perfect public ‘face’ for the club.

Fast forward 10 years and after five seasons of dodging the drop in the Premier League, it has now suffered back-to-back-relegations and in August will find itself competing in the third tier for only the second time in 139 years.

Sunderland may have spent nine years in the Premier League – just – on Short’s watch, and reached the final of the League Cup in 2014, but that is slim pickings for a club of this size, and with its proud history.

Not only that, but constant failure means the disconnect between the club and its disillusioned fans has never been greater.

The club’s debt has also spiralled under Short’s tenure, from around £70m when he bought out the financially struggling Drumaville consortium to well in excess of £110m now.

It is to Short’s credit that he has given the new owners a club that is debt-free.

But it has been an expensive exercise for the billionaire who has had to write-off those debts, along with more than £150m more of his own money that he pumped in during the early years of his reign.

It should be noted that Short did invest heavily in players when he took over – the problem was that he employed a succession of managers, head coaches, boardroom personnel, and directors of football, who squandered his cash.

That was the backdrop against which he decided in recent years to cease throwing good money after bad, stop funding player transfers,

and merely cover the clubs losses instead.

But Sunderland have suffered terribly as a result.

More investment in better players might have spared the club relegation from the Premier League last season.

And even a handful of what is, for Short, chumpchange would have been enough to bring in players who would have steered the club away from relegation this term. Short (pictured) has much to answer for and Sunderland fans will never forgive him for the appalling mistakes he has made, that allowed their club to descend to the very depths of despair. But whatever has gone before, it is Short’s final decision that will have the longest-lasting impact on Wearside. According to the statement that announced the sale of the club to an international consortium of football investors headed by Eastleigh chairman Stewart Donald, Short says he was “determined to ensure that I leave Sunderland in the best possible hands” and that “higher offers from less qualified buyers were rejected”.

Short’s appointments during his time at the helm have got Sunderland into this mess; the fans can only hope he is a better judge when it comes to finding a new owner because the club cannot afford to leap out of the frying pan and into the fire.

We do not yet know the identities of Donald’s backers, and establishing just who they are and how deep are their pockets is crucial.

But certainly the change in ownership will allow all on Wearside to press the reset button.

There will be a new manager to replace Chris Coleman, the squad will break up and be rebuilt this summer, and the fan fury that Short’s continued ownership engendered will now disappear.

This is a fresh start for Sunderland, and it is an opportunity they must seize with both hands.