Why can't Sunderland compete financially - and is Ellis Short to blame? please log in to view this image BAD CALLS: Ellis Short has presided over some poor decision-making during his time at the Stadium of Light DAVID MOYES’ brutally honest assessment of Sunderland’s financial position has resulted in two key questions being asked. Why, at a time when more money is flowing into the Premier League than ever before, is the club unable to compete with the vast majority of its top-flight rivals? And is Sunderland’s owner, Ellis Short, ultimately the one to blame? The answer to the first question is relatively simple, and is contained within the club’s most recent set of accounts, which covered the period to the end of the 2014-15 season. To put it succinctly, Sunderland are in a financial mess. Whichever measure of a club’s financial performance you choose, the Black Cats do not fare well. Their most recent annual loss was £25m, an increase of 49 per cent on the season before. Only two Premier League clubs posted a bigger loss – QPR and Aston Villa. And we all know what happened to them.
