give ower he is a lying cockney ****, like Methhaven(spelling intentional) bet they have already offered him a contract
Hmm, in my considered opinion after reading the notes from the meeting of Donald et al with RAWA, is that atm he is going nowhere, nor is the club..we are going to be in the turd division for a while and the Academy is under threat... Whilst I am sure Donald (and his family )have taken some abuse, there is some exaggeration there.. No light at the end of the tunnel for me I am afraid!
Its quite simple in reality. We would then play other teams with lower funded academies, the level of competition would be lower and the opposition weaker. As a Cat 1 we play United, Liverpool etc Cat 2 we may be playing Sheff Wed, Barnsley etc
I am actually astounded that an owner, a businessman, a millionaire or whatever has come out with that petulant, immature bilge. I am almost lost for words, but whatever words left in me are as a result of anger and angst. I have absolutely no idea where we go from here, but it doesn't look like there will be a promotion challenge this season. This was really his one last hope of salvaging something and mending bridges, he's just blew the ****er up
Exactly. He hasn't admitted that we've been **** and won't take any responsibility for it. Why are you fans being so negative? I've turned you into an average League 1 team. I will give him the fact that we were a basket case financially and are better now. Losing millions per year still. He can say we are in a great position but he's bluffing that the losses don't hurt him.
It’s barely believable that they started so well. I do wonder how Stu would have done without Methven, I think it would possibly have been different.
At the risk of being controversial,I thought he came across well in his radio interview. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p08l0gtk
The meeting notes have annoyed me in all honesty. Firstly, I'm annoyed at supposed lads fan TS' attitude. Secondly, to be coming out with statements such as "my family's safety" concerning the fans. I understand that there is potentially emotional and verbal abuse when considering social media, however I'm almost positive any abuse he's gotten is along the lines of "get out of our club" and words to the effect of him being a chancer and having no money. I think at least one of his sons had twitter at one point, but there's no difference in him seeing the stuff said about his dad as any other bilge spouted on Twitter at any subject. Don't get me wrong though, if there has been genuine abuse and not just criticism then that is abhorrent and should be condemned. I'm a regular Twitter user and I've seen nothing of concern. Obviously he could be talking about confrontations in person, but I've seen no evidence of that either, and unfortunately SD's credibility is minimal at the moment due to his inconsistent statements and actions so far. In my opinion, it just stinks of creating excuses and spreading doubt amongst a fanbase that is already disillusioned. Fair enough to appear in person and speak to fan's groups, that's exactly what should be happening to allow more transparency. Don't just use that platform to have a whinge and blame everyone else. I do feel that when he bought the club he cared about wanting to achieve promotion and transform the club's fortunes. It's a matter of opinion as to whether that was with financial intentions, football passion or perhaps just both. Either way, the club is now failing and as the owner and head of the club, it's his ultimately his responsibility to take ownership of his mistakes.
He did, but he often does. There’s a passion and will there for sure, he just lies though. We know as fact he was trying to sell the club before the **** went down and he lost the fans, so why turn that round and say he’s ‘selling cos fans asked him to go’ Where’s the strength of character, he is likeable but you have to stand tall and strong or you get savaged, he hasn’t shown that. He could have said ‘we looked at selling last summer, the deal didn’t work, I wasn’t looking for an out but I was open to considering options’. If he’d said that 7-8 months ago some good will would remain. If they’d been open about the missing money, if they’d explained the use of parachute money etc. They started well, tunes in to fans, the seats thing wound is all up they got that. It’s crazy in truth that the one decision, taking the money for Maja, defines everything. If we’d gone up, they’d have remained loved (Methven would have blown up at some point regardless, a **** is a ****), and they could have easily attracted an investor or a buyer. Burying facts has quite rightly broken trust. I believe when they say the club is more viable and sustainable now, but the club is far too big and far too important to be allowed to flatline. It’s the open contradiction that’s killed the good will, but had Maja remained, had we gone up, that would have been overlooked. Failure on the footballing side will overrule everything, yes football is business but to us fans it isn’t, it’s sport, it’s passion, it’s family and bond. It’s pure love.
I still have some sympathy for him. He should never have tried to engage with fans, knowing how some are idiots who will never be happy, some are idiots who hate everything, some are idiots who will keep records of every utterance and beat him with any contradictions and some are idiots who think we have a divine right to be in the premier league. Assumptions made out of hatred become facts to beat him with. As he says, he did a lot right over the time he's been here. If we'd been promoted the first year, nobody would have given a toss that he frequently mis-spoke. It looks like we could be stuck with him for another year so sharpen the pitchforks people. Hopefully we'll be top two and the grumbling will subside a little.
I reckon he had buyers at Wembley and it started to go wrong from there. Methven started to show his true colours about then.
Very realistic. Debt free with minimal losses, we’d have been instantly profitable in the Championship and of he’d then sold for £40-50million nobody turns a blind eye that’s he’s made a few quid. You’d actually say he deserved it if that had happened. The issue now is he openly admits its losing £5million a year yet expects someone to take it on at £37million. That makes it £42million in year one and the playing side shows no signs of being good enough to go up. There’s another £8-10million in fees and wages to make us favourites. Now you’re asking someone to go £50million plus on a business that’s losing 10% of that on top annually. It’s not gonna be realistic to most unless we get up. His best bet, well that’s to find a chunk to invest and ride it out and get us up, that changes the whole landscape. I looked into Championship prize money and it’s around £10million all told, equal share to all clubs, league placing has no impact. Its a drop in ocean v PL money but it makes the whole club viable. We remain a great draw for sponsors and kit suppliers, we would get a bigger TV share as we would be a headline club, and then there’s more through the doors and bigger spend in club shops. The jump is everything. Below the Championship is literally football wilderness for a club this side. Stu needs to get us out of this league if he wants top dollar, and to do that he needs to invest in the playing side as we are not close. We can argue about the PPG scenario, but Coventry and Oxford were better sides than us, Portsmouth and Peterborough were at least a match, argue either way. If club size meant anything is and Pompey would piss the league, it just doesn’t. If he wants his money out, invest another £10-12million, get us up, sell for £50million. That’s the only way his numbers are gonna work.
Decent read from Phil Smith https://www.sunderlandecho.com/spor...real-issues-under-fire-stewart-donald-2916855
Decent read. Donald said on Total Sport that he thought Phil Smith had always been fair handed with him - wonder if he still thinks that.........? Looks like The Chronicle has gone after him as well https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spo...lKY4XVVub4ZdhF_TwcYv7w_o2y11SyBFRYLgB53QPy2dg
Nice piece. No ****ing about and right on the money. Refreshing for the Echo and well done to them for stepping out of the comfort zone they’ve allowed the regime for far too long. The Echo haven’t been ‘fair’, they’ve been ‘soft’, but that’s immaculately accurate and succinct. We all know we do do with a bit more positivity in the support, several of us have alluded to the negativity previously, but to use that as a rod, Asa defence as a downright cloak of their failings is pissy weak and wholly ridiculous. 30,000 plus 2 seasons in the 3rd tier is not only magnificent, it’s unheralded, and it’s a huge sign to anyone looking from outside to the giant potential that despite 7-8 years of kicks right in the bollocks the club still has. The fans are the clubs biggest asset. Maybe right now it’s only asset of value. 30,000 times a conservative £15 average over 23 games is £10,350,000. I posted earlier the numbers I’d found for Championship prize money. This beats that on the doors, and also increases advertising and sponsorship revenue If you don’t have a band of happy clapping jobs for the boys misfits running the PR and marketing streams. The club should be marketed as a wolf amongst sheep with a little bit of arrogance, not as a derelict barn in need of a full rebuild.
