FPP, finances & Sunderland’s future plans examined
It’s been an explosive few days at the Stadium of Light – with new financial claims concerning supporters.
It was revealed last week that a £20.5million financial hole was deterring potential buyers of the club, with club owners Madrox moving to clarify their position on the matter in an exclusive Q&A on Monday.
And fans still have a number of unanswered questions about what has happened and what comes next. We’ve been inundated with such queries, so here we’ve compiled a number of questions – over today and tomorrow – that our Sunderland writer, Phil Smith, answers. offremainingdebtstoSBC.I’m not aware of this having been mentioned in public before.
I would add the caveat that in the first months following thechangeofownership,there were a lot of extensive interviews, whether it be podcasts or otherwise, and so I couldn’t say for certain.
Idon’trecallafive-yearplan torepaythemoniesbeingmentioned, however.
As I wrote last Saturday, my initial understanding (and I think this was shared by colleagues at the time) from the first press conference when this issue was raised, was that Ellis Short was holding the monies as ‘security’.
Theinferencethenwasthat this would be released when the£40millionpurchaseprice was met after a certain period of time. and business clout.
In terms of the second part of the question, it still seems less positive on that front.
FPP have not, to the best of my knowledge, held any substantive talks about taking a majority stake since they initially decided against that last year.
Their interests and plans for the club remain entirely unknown as they have been steadfast in their approach of offering no comment.
In truth, that has always made me a little uncomfortable. They now have a strong, material interest in Sunderland AFC and it would be good for fans to hear from them.
Ialsothinkitisalsoverydifficult for the club to move forward in a lot of ways while the reason for their decision not to take that majority stake initially is not a matter of record. knowwhatdivisiontheywillbe playing in next season.
On top of that (and as I’ll discuss in a bit more detail later), budgets are surely going to be defined to some extent by whether next season begins in front of fans or not.
What Sunderland can do is prepare their budgets for each oftheseeventualities,andstart assessing what their squads may then look like in those scenarios.
One of the key things to do now, is to establish which players are going to be available (and the free agent market could be a source of major potential this time around), what they might cost and crucially, whetherplayerswhomightnot have been deemed attainable now suddenly are.
In the broader scheme of things,thelikesofJimRodwell and David Jones are eager to ensure the club’s recruitment proceduresareasmodernand relevant as they possibly can be. That’s probably more of a long-term project but there is still work that can and should be done now.
Smart recruitment is only going to become more important as we move forward.
Final decisions will always rest with the manager and to thatend,PhilParkinsonhasalready said he’s been speaking to agents and ‘keeping his ear to the ground’ to see what the market might be like when it’s opened.
The answer is very similar to the one above.
Decisions on contracts will be guided by how the season finishes and what Sunderland mightbeabletooffergoingforward.
Whattheclubwillalsoneed to establish is how the market will be affected by what is currently going, for two reasons.
One, it may guide what the club’s current players can get elsewhere, which in turn will guide talks when they do happen.
Two, they will be keen to see if what is going on means they’re able to ultimately get better value.
I’mnotsureeitheristotally clear at this stage.