It goes beyond that - he actually says he knows there are other people involved but he's not spoken to them yet.
Me as well. I’ve turned into a proper keyboard warrior stating the facts on the socials. I think I need to step back as I think turning into a Facebook Percy Sugden (ref for the oldies on this forum)
This is all Sunderland fans ever expect, 100% from players, owners & staff, to do the right thing by us...is that to much to ask? If we fall shirt having 'a right go' Sunderland fans will & always have done applaud, cheer, dust ourselves off & be ready to go again. Sunderland till we die
Proof if ever it was needed that confirmation bias exists on both the positive and negative perspective, however the negative appears much more blind in its faith of its position, they will do the same when the buy out actually happens and Donald has 15% left he's still "pulling the strings" like some bond villain.
Let’s just say we do have the two groups, majority KLD + JS and then minority SD and CM I would expect overall vision and investment to be coming from the majority and for minority to be joined up to that. it’s in Sunderland’s best Interest that the ownership group work together and are fluid and that’s what it sounds like to me. There’s been some big indisputable changes in the club already so the argument “Cm and SD are still pulling the strings and nowt changes” just isn’t ringing true for me.
Rightly or wrongly until Charlie & SD are gone completely, every quote is going to be pulled apart, every decision scrutinised to the nth degree. Referring to them as ‘Silent investors’ won’t cut it at the moment. The only respite they’ll receive is if results improve on the pitch and currently it’s just about at its lowest point in the clubs history. Not trying to have a crack at anyone, but that’s the reality (In my opinion of course!)
The Instagram message to Johnson surely confirms that a takeover is happening, IE "welcome to SAFC Lee Johnson, as opposed to " good luck at SAFC". A small change to that wording speaks volumes.
Yes,a poisonous atmosphere will remain for the significant number of fans who have a deep hatred of Donald. Many are profoundly unhappy that,if our impressions are correct, Donald will retain a stake in the club,and if it's believed he will continue to have some meaningful input into the management, which the latest comments indicate, sadly the toxic attitude will remain for some time yet.
I am behind him if the first thing on the agenda is to fk the salary cap off or at least revise it based on income levels. Darragh MacAnthony said when they were having discussions with the EFL he suggested it be based on levels of income. So for example a club with smaller income that brings in less than 1 million has a cap, then a club that brings in over 3 million has a cap then 5 million etc. Having a cap the same as Accrington Stanley in ludicrous.
I feel hopeful about positive forward thinking changes being made but time needs to tell. We won’t get pace and goals up top without some investment and Donald wouldn’t spend on this in the last two windows despite us clearly needing it so let’s see if they walk the walk. We have every right to be cautious though.
SD and CM are puppet masters. I'm of the hope LJ drags us out of this division, but there's something not right about this whole affair, we are certainly being played. I would suggest that some of the ITK MAY have been so also, without realising.
See - I don't mind (in fact I think it's healthy) that a segment of our fanbase remain sceptical and asking questions about what is going. Especially with this morning's story which however postive you are, creates mores questions. However - phrases like "puppet masters" and "we are certainly being played" are so hyperbolic and really detrimental to the cause of any fan that is truly asking the right questions wanting clarity.
These aren’t some evil communist despots eager to mask shadowy activities from Supporters. The signs are all there that something positive is happening. Although we’ve obviously had no confirmation of take over progress / completion surely it would be best reserving this kind of judgment until the process is over ?
The negative vultures firmly have their teeth in this story from the Chronicle like "please be a **** takeover" etc
Ok that's fine, but it means that Donald is still involved and not just as a silent shareholder which seemed to be the prevailing message since the KLD news broke a few weeks back.
‘A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing’. It’s like that scene from the life of Brian “The shoe is the sign.” We latch on to every snippet of information the newspapers print about our club, assimilate it and then use it to argue our point whichever side of the fence we are on. Personally I can’t change anything, so I will watch the boardroom events with interest and get behind the team in any way I can to see if we can get out of this awful league as early as possible.
I honestly can’t get my head around people thinking that a billionaire is going to part with his money and let Stewart Donald dictate how it’s spent.
I think this proves that when the takeover/investment comes in to place that they need to be really clear in their message of who owns what and how it will work moving forward. I think its quite right and correct that questions are being asked as the current ownership have been as clear as the Wear in their communication and spin.
