I’d rather wait and see KLD win this battle tbh because I’d like the two spivs to get what they deserve. Maybe I’m too bitter but I actually despise them.
Perhaps they can't afford what has been agreed. Methven won't want to keep putting in money he won't get back, it's not a loan. He struggled last season and we'll spend more this time.
new athletic article on takeover Sunderland ownership saga: TFT crypto group want in but Louis-Dreyfus denies contact please log in to view this image By Philip Buckingham and Joey D'Urso 4m ago Sunderland were able to ride a wave of good vibes through the first weeks of summer. A full fortnight after winning the League One play-off final, comfortably beating Wycombe Wanderers for a cathartic celebration at Wembley, a glow of optimism persisted. More than 28,000 supporters have bought season tickets for their return to the Championship in 2022-23, the club announced on Tuesday morning. Not since a decade in the Premier League ended with relegation five years ago have such numbers committed themselves to a year’s action at the Stadium of Light. Alex Neil has built a cause worth backing during his short and successful reign as head coach that began in mid-February. A run of 16 games unbeaten climaxed with promotion and there are cautious hopes momentum can remain an ally once a new campaign begins next month. There is a boil, though, yet to be lanced. Sunderland’s ownership issues are deep-rooted and troublesome. Two of the four shareholders, Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven, want to cash in their chips and leave the club they have owned pieces of since 2018. However the other two, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Juan Sartori, have no apparent interest in striking a deal at the figures Donald and Methven are seeking. Enter stage left; a cryptocurrency group, and all the enormous uncertainty which accompanies that sector. The Fans Together (TFT), whose 102-page white paper of aims and objectives ends with QR codes for “donation links”, yesterday confirmed it is in discussions to buy the 39 per cent shareholding collectively held by Donald and Methven. A statement lacked detail but promised to update “fans and wider stakeholders as soon as possible”. The immediate reaction from supporters suggested there will be no welcome mat put out on Wearside. A club starting to get it right again have appeared to conclude this would be all wrong. There is scepticism within the club that the mooted TFT deal has the necessary depth to succeed. No deposits have yet been paid, and then come the hurdles to clear with the English Football League (EFL). Proof of funds would be necessary as a relevant stakeholder. Fail to provide those assurances, and TFT will not get far. TFT believes all this in hand and that a deal struck with Donald and Methven can proceed. “In Sunderland, we have deliberately chosen a club with a large fanbase that is in a sound financial state and we are keen to work with existing shareholders to continue to build on the momentum achieved through the recent promotion to the Championship,” the group said in a statement. TFT have plenty to convince, not least the supporters it promises to place at the centre of its plans for club ownership. “Don’t even bother,” was the clean bit of one tweet sent by fan website Roker Report directly to TFT. There is tiredness and fatigue that this interminable saga continues to roll on. Sunderland have begun to resemble a new club under Louis-Dreyfus but the shadows of a former regime remain. Donald and Methven might not be on the board but they represent an era of stagnation Sunderland would rather escape. Both, along with Sartori, were present at Wembley to watch the play-off final end with celebrations that had Louis-Dreyfus front and centre. please log in to view this image Ross Stewart celebrates his Wembley goal that clinched promotion (Photo: Marc Atkins/Getty Images) Donald and Methven maintain they have been actively seeking buyers for their combined 39 per cent stake since February and claim two different groups have now “submitted acceptable offers”. TFT, having attended the play-off semi-final first leg win over Sheffield Wednesday in the Stadium of Light boardroom, is one. The other is unclear. “The chairman of Sunderland AFC (Louis-Dreyfus) has asked that the sale of our shares be completed before the start of next season if at all possible, which we entirely agree with, but ultimately that is now in the hands of the bidders and their lawyers,” said Methven in a statement on Tuesday. Louis-Dreyfus had his punchy response out before dark. “Neither I nor any employee from Sunderland AFC has had any dialogue with the Cryptocurrency Group ‘The Fans Together’ and although a timely conclusion to this matter is preferable, any transfer of shares must not compromise the club’s integrity,” he said. “All shareholders must also be qualified to take the club forward in line with EFL Governance and have alignment with the values and principles of SAFC and its supporters, as well as our long-term strategy.” It has started to feel like a test of who blinks first in the boardroom. Louis-Dreyfus, who first took on his controlling 41 per cent stake in February last year, has made his stance clear since Donald and Methven confirmed to The Athletic, four months ago, their intent to sell. For all there is a willingness to increase his share of the club, Louis-Dreyfus steadfastly insists it will only come at an agreeable price. He has Sartori on side, and between them they own a combined 61 per cent. Methven has gone on record to stress their asking price was appropriately set at £11.7 million. That effectively valued Sunderland, a third division club until just over two weeks ago, at around £30 million. Those numbers have clearly not been to Louis-Dreyfus’ liking. Or the wider family who were all in attendance to support the 24-year-old at Wembley last month. As well as wife Alexandra and his twin brother Maurice, two regulars at the Stadium of Light throughout this season, Louis-Dreyfus was joined by mother Margarita, chairperson of the Louis-Dreyfus Group, a conglomerate that turns over billions annually. Also in attendance was Swiss banker Philipp Hildebrand, Kyril’s stepfather, who has been reported to be keen on the stake held by Donald and Methven. Money, in theory, would not be an issue for such a low-level investment. Finding a buyer for that 39 per cent, however, has not been straightforward — much like Donald’s attempts to bring in new investment within a year of taking control of Sunderland in the summer of 2018. A number of interested parties, all with varying credibility, have come along for a look, only to eventually walk away. That cast list now includes TFT, though the group are yet to hold any meaningful discussions with Louis-Dreyfus. Sunderland’s chairman, typically a young man of few public words, has told supporters he would be willing to welcome outside investment to replace Donald and Methven but there is no prospect of the Swiss youngster relinquishing control. That bit, he stresses, is non-negotiable. That leaves Sunderland in an ownership pickle. How do you attract a group willing to buy a 39 per cent stake in a Championship club without being granted any meaningful influence over their affairs, beyond a seat or two on the board? If Louis-Dreyfus, the man holding the keys, sees no value in buying out Donald and Methven, who else would? please log in to view this image Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, left, is the 24-year-old Sunderland chairman and biggest shareholder (Photo: Richard Sellers/PA Images via Getty Images) Louis-Dreyfus is said to be calm with the situation and still has the chance to exercise pre-emption rights afforded to him as an existing shareholder. He could match the offer made by TFT or any other party, should he wish. Running simultaneously is the conundrum facing Donald and Methven. They have shareholder obligations to meet in funding Sunderland’s running costs, numbers that will inevitably increase as a club back in the second tier and so paying higher salaries than they were in League One. When does a stake go from asset to burden? The coming months are likely to provide a window to their intentions. TFT’s emergence underlines the pair are fielding all inquiries. The Fans Together (TFT) is proposing to be a football club owner unlike any you can think of. TFT is a DAO or Decentralised Autonomous Organisation — a digital entity without any physical headquarters, governed by rules created via computer code, and controlled by its members. This world can all get confusing very quickly, but the organisation says its basic idea is to create a “fast, free and frictionless way for fans to engage with their sports clubs”, giving supporters a say in team operations. It does this by issuing digital cryptocurrency tokens which will allow fans to vote on the club’s direction. “Votes within the DAO are proposed by the TFT team and then token holders will be able to participate, deciding the outcome,” the TFT website says, while also indicating the power of token holders’ votes will be limited to what its founders decide to grant. Digital tokens do make these sorts of votes possible using “blockchain” technology, which does not require a central governing authority. DAOs and cryptocurrency proponents associate this technology with grand philosophies about decentralisation and democracy. TFT makes all the right noises in its marketing, criticising the hated European Super League launch attempt in April last year, and corporate ownership of football, selling its idea as a solution to a world in which many fans feel disenfranchised. However, in practice, cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are inextricably linked to financial speculation. For example “fan engagement” company Socios has issued digital tokens in association with several Premier League clubs including Arsenal and Manchester City. Though these do not offer ownership, they allow fan votes on various trivial matters relating to their club. However, the real driving force behind the popularity of Socios is speculation, as currency traders around the world aim to buy the token low and sell it high, generally losing money as the token slowly falls in value as early enthusiasm wanes. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have risen hugely in value over the past decade, though have been choppy over the last two years and have halved since November. This has led to huge amounts of hype from people hoping to get rich off the back of crypto, as well as NFTs. This means new schemes are constantly popping up around football, often with grand, hard-to-decipher plans about some exciting technological future. Virtually all have failed miserably, leaving ordinary fans carrying the can. TFT has a lot of work to do to convince Sunderland fans that this will be any different. The huge question mark around TFT is where the large sum of money needed to buy a stake in Sunderland is coming from. The $TFT token has not launched yet, and the organisation’s server on social media app Discord has only 284 members. It is hard to believe, then, that this money is some bottom-up pooling of wealth from the masses. It is not clear who exactly is planning to finance this proposed investment. Bewildering crypto-speak does not answer two simple questions every Sunderland fan will demand answers to: Whose money is this? If we don’t know that, how realistic can the investment claims be? The new EFL season begins on the last weekend in July, so what happens next promises to have a significant bearing on the path Sunderland take. Such a short summer — promotion was not secured until May 21, three weeks after Wigan Athletic and Rotherham United went up automatically — does not allow for hesitation as manager Neil attempts to rebuild a squad that has spent the last four years in the third tier of English football. A Championship return demands significant new blood, with three of the previous four League One play-off final winners going straight back down. “Juan Sartori and I remain wholeheartedly committed to Sunderland AFC and our collective focus is on preparing for the upcoming Championship season,” Louis-Dreyfus said yesterday (Tuesday). Sunderland will not stray from the model of self-sustainability and privately accept there will be rivals with far greater financial muscle. There will not be splurges under Louis-Dreyfus, with the emphasis placed upon the same smart recruitment that helped unearth last season’s 26-goal top scorer Ross Stewart at Scottish side Ross County 18 months ago. Neil was quick to stress the need for Sunderland to kick on in the hours that followed victory at Wembley. “There’s massive scope for us still to go but we understand we’re going to a new level,” he said. “We just need to sit down and have a chat about where we go next. If you’re doing a job, you want the tools to do that. And I’m no different.” The ownership model in place last season was not considered an obstacle. “I don’t really care if I’m being brutally honest,” Neil added. “I just want people to give me what I think I need to do the job. Whether it’s split, whether it’s an individual, whether it’s three of them, five of them or 10 of them, I’m not bothered. That’s for them to sort out.” That might be easier said than done.
These two alleged bids at EFL - Could I right be in thinking that Donald my have one party there for his shares and Methvan for TFT with his?
Keep calm Sandy lad. All will emerge I'm sure. You might be right about the Greek Gods though. I always assumed it was Eris who had a particular interest in us. I think she was the Goddess of disruption and chaos!
Scabs are a natural part of the healing process. A puss filled, festering sore would be a better description
no mate ive jacked it in, to many people who think they can say what they like to other posters, like some kind of keyboard warriors. on here its a better class of poster. that is just my view.
Sickens me to think I was in the same pub as him once let alone have a chat with him. He was a smug ****er that day, strolling around the beer garden with a cigar and **** suit, lording it.
