What Donald’s resignation means for a Cats takeover
Stewart Donald has resigned as chairman of Sunderland AFC – leaving supporters with a host of unanswered questions.
Pressure has been mounting on the Black Cats’ majority shareholder since the turn of the year and, while he is still actively seeking a buyer for the club, he has stepped back from the day-to-day running of Sunderland over recent months. And after a heated meeting with supporters earlier this week, he has now resigned as chairman of the club’s board.
But what does this latest move mean for the club moving forward, and is there any real significance to it? We take a look:
What has actually happened?
Stewart Donald has resigned as chairman of the board of Sunderland AFC.
It’s important to recognise that this is far from Donald severing ties with the Black Cats. He remains the club’s majority shareholder – owning 74 per cent of shares in the club – and his resignation is purely him surrendering his place on the club’s board.
It’s a near identical situation to that of Charlie Methvenl ate last year, who stepped back from the club’s board but retained his minority shareholding in the club.
However, while there was no obligation to replace Methve na she was merely a directoron the board, Donald' s role of chairman will need filling – which we’ll discuss shortly. Why has this happened? Pressure has mounted on Donald in recent months afterthe coordinated# Donald Out campaign at the turn of the year, which led the owner to publicly place Sunderland up for sale.
But animosity has increased over the last 48 hours following a meeting between Donald and prominent fan groups on Thursday afternoon, in which a number of controversial remarks were made.
During that meeting, Donald is understood to have told supporters that he would be willing to resign as chairman if the fans felt that it was in the best interests of the club for him to do so.
This move appears to be him following through on that promise, with Donald saying he felt the move gave the club the best chance of achieving success.
Indeed, when speaking to the club’s website after announcing his resignation, Donald said: "To give the club the best chance of achieving its goals, I have made the judgement that it is right for me to step back from the chairmanship.”
So what does this actually mean and how will this affect the day-to-day running of the club?
In reality, Donald’ s resignation means very little.
He had been far less hands on at the Stadium of Light since the turn of the year and the appointment of Jim Rod well as chief executive saw his involvement in the day-today running of the club fade.
So in terms of how things run at Black Cat House and the Academy of Light, very little will change with this move.
But crucially, Donald remains as owner. He still has obligations, not least financial, to fulfil and in the statement issued regarding his departure Donald alluded to this – saying his responsibility is now to‘ ensure that the club has the requisite financial backing to achieve its primary objective of promotion.’
Does this mean a takeover is close?
Donald’s resignation, coupled with the departures of Tony Co ton and Richard Hill
on Friday evening, led some supporters to believe that a takeover could be close – given a number of key staff were being moved on.
But this isn’ t understood to be the case.
While a number of parties are interested, nobody has entered a period of due diligence.
Donald has confirmed that he will continue to play an active role in takeover discussions as owner.
"My intention remains to sell SAFC to a suitable new owner, and I remain personally committed to that goal,” he said.
Who will replace Stewart Donald as chairman?
The club have confirmed that they intend to appoint a new chairman next month after a meeting of the club’s board.
Whore places Donaldbe seen, although the likes of non-executive director Tom Sloanes will undoubtedly be names under consideration.
*Kyle Lafferty is reportedly set to put pen to paper on a deal in Italy’s second division following his Sunderland exit.
The experienced striker joined the Black Cats in January and netted just twice before the League One season was curtailed–with both goals coming in a 2-2 draw with Gillingham in March.
And having been released following the expiration of his short-term contract, reports in Italy claim that the 32-yearold is set to join Serie B side Reggina.
Reggina gained promotion from the third tier last season and have embarked on an ambitious recruitment drive this summer – having already agreed a deal to sign former Roma and AC Milan winger Jeremy Menez.
And Sportitalia claim that Lafferty is set to be the next player to sign for the second division side.
It’s something of a surprising move given the frontman’s pedigree, but it’s understood that Reggina have been able to offer attractive contracts to a number of marquee signings.
Speaking to the Open Goal podcast earlier this month, Lafferty had hinted that his next move may take him abroad – having previously played in Italy, Switzerland and Turkey.
“It’s one of those things, do I hold off and see what happens?,” he said.
“ButIlovegoingabroad.It’s everything that comes with it - training in the afternoon, having coffee in the sun, it’s a different feeling.
“I think my game suits playing abroad .”