Donald taking advantage of the furlough scheme. I don't have a problem in principle (he won't be the only one in football by any means), but I think it shows exactly who he is and that he'll eek out any and every financial help he can even over our competitive ability. Maybe he's within his rights, but I don't know if it's the right thing from a footballing perspective. Few concerns are: 1) The state of players when we come back, if our training won't begin until the new season 2) Whether players will leave on a free or for a fee because of these decisions 3) Whether players will join us if this is who we are.
Unless i'm missing something, people need to let this 20 million thing go. Correct me if i'm wrong but wasn't it used to clear a club debt albeit in an unconventional manner?
No. It was used to clear Ellis Short's debt incurred running us for his own benefit when he bragged publicly about funding our losses, only to toss the debt back onto the club when it came to paying it off. SD and CM then used the parachute payments to pay Short.
we won't even have a squad come August , there is no way sd is going to sign anyone until after august at least , two reasons , unless there was an agreement between club and player that salary only started once training resumed , and secondly any new incoming cannot be furloughed . We are well and truly ****ed mind
Not necessarily. We don't know the detail. Did Short actually want to leave us debt free so he took the SBC loan, and then wanted his price of £40m which he expected Donald to pay himself? Short would then use some of that sale to satisfy the SBC debt that he took on, and he'd think that the club was debt free, with a £25m parachute payment to come in and generally in a great position. Or was the agreement always that the club money would be used to pay that club debt (Short would wipe all the other hundred and odd million but not that bit) and he only wanted £15m from Donald. We don't know is the short answer. But when Donald came in he explicitly said he was paying £40m and that Short just had security over the parachute payments so that if Donald didn't pay him (the £40m), Short could take those payments in lieu but not to worry because that wouldn't happen. That is exactly how you'd imagine the first scenario would work, because Donald wouldn't have £40m cash so Short would need a form of security. The fact Donald so specifically said that's what it was for, and the fact he has since mentioned the the money will be paid back as needed, suggests to me that the first option was what was meant to happen. Donald has also said that he wouldn't feel bad about "keeping" the parachute payments if he had to sell up before he wanted to, and that the intention was always to invest "up to" the £40m. Is not beyond the realms of possibility that initially he intended to pay the full £40m because he thought he'd get us up and sell for a profit. As that became less likely he realised that there wasn't a legal obligation to do so, so he could just avoid doing it (and if he's being decent he'd deduct it from whatever he gets when he sells ). But now with cash flow obviously an issue, we really need that money in safc , not "resting" for want of a better term with Donald
If players wages are cut they are automatically entitled to a "free" transfer. Tom Cowie tried it with Stan Cummins and he ****ed off to Crystal Palace.
It was a good laugh that day. Lovely sunshine conga and we want 9. I remember one of our defenders making a foul near the half way line and they scored before he had ambled half way back to his position. I think the naughty african herbs played their part, floated my way through the afternoon.
We should be spending money now imho. Other clubs will be desperate for cash and we could get targets for a lot less than in the mad dash it'll be come the end of august. Players in starting fitness work now, getting ahead of the competition. Instead we'll do what we nearly always do. Get fleeced for a load of ****e late in the day and start the season half fit and a quarter organised.
Said it before but he sounds like an absolute ****ing whopper that lad : - buys into Sunderland, likely for £1 - comes over and has some kick abouts outside the ground - decides he wants to bring a load of Uruguayan kids over even though (unless they had second nationality, and even that would be at risk after brexit) they wouldn't get a work permit - is said to be a massively wealthy man - spends absolutely nowt - turns up at Wembley - sells his cannabis farm - decides he actually wants to be president of Uruguay instead - fails to become president of Uruguay - is expected to be seen a lot more in Sunderland following the aforementioned lack of presidency - said he wants Sunderland to invest in a Uruguayan feeder club (can't imagine why anyone would want to feed into a league one club like) - is never seen again One of the most head scratching, completely random associations with the club that I can remember, and we had Alvarez and Eboue
Its not that unusual. Football history is full of reasonably successful businessmen who think that their obvious (to them ) leadership skills will waft (insert average club name here) from football backwater to champions League.