Quinn leads charge to buy back Cats

NIALL QUINN is confident of concluding a takeover of stricken Sunderland in the next few days.

It will mean the end of the ill-fated Ellis Short regime which has left the Black

Cats staring relegation to

League One in the face.

Short has been desperate to sell

Sunderland for some time and is believed to have agreed a sale to a North East and Republic of Ireland-based consortium being advised by Quinn (above). Quinn has attempted to drum up support for the Wearside club after seeing Short lose interest and refuse to invest any more cash following last May’s relegation from the Premier League. The billionaire has moved back to the USA – and without any further investment Sunderland would be left on the verge of going into administration. But Quinn, whose Drumaville Consortium of wealthy Irish businessmen acquired the club in 2006 only to sell out to Short five years later, insists he doesn’t want to be directly involved in attempting to rebuild Sunderland.

A former Sunderland player and chairman, the 51-year-old wants an advisory role although he is under pressure to be one of the future decision makers.

The takeover leaves the future of manager Chris Coleman (right) uncertain, especially after having failed to arrest the slide towards football’s third tier for only the second time in the club’s history.