Journalist Michael Walker appeared on the latest edition of The Athletic’s Going Up, Going Down podcast where he spent some time discussing Sunderland and one of the topics that he touched on concerning the North East club was the extent to which Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven are currently involved with the club.
This comes after Walker recently wrote an article for The Athletic titled: ‘Sunderland in Limboland’ in which he discussed the Black Cats and the current state of the Sunderland takeover process.
Donald declared that he was “desperately trying” to sell the club earlier this year, and Walker explained in his recent article for The Athletic that Donald ‘has stepped back, or is said to have stepped back’ from his duties with the club.
In this article for The Athletic, Walker also clarified that while ex-Sunderland executive director Methven ‘departed last December’, he ‘is still a shareholder’ in the club.
During his recent appearance on The Athletic’s Going Up, Going Down podcast, the journalist talked about how much Donald and Methven really have stepped back.
He said: “I spoke to William Storey [who is behind a Sunderland takeover bid] to give him a hearing, and he said that he is talking to Stewart Donald; he’s not talking to Jim Rodwell [who was appointed as the club’s new chief executive in April].”
“If you take that at face value, Stewart Donald is leading the discussions about trying to find a buyer, but he physically says that he has stepped back.
“I don’t know how someone who can own so much of the club can step back – and the same with Charlie Methven, who still owns 6% of it.
“So, it’s easy to say they’re stepping back and remove themselves from the line of fire, so to speak, but they’ll still be involved.”
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TIF Thoughts…
So, judging by these comments, it seems that while Donald and Methven have publicly stepped back from their duties with Sunderland, the journalist believes that the pair haven’t and can’t really end their involvement with the Black Cats, due to their respective ownership stakes in the club.
With Donald “desperately trying” to sell the club and with Methven having already technically departed from his role at the North-East outfit, we feel that it would be in the best interests of Sunderland for a takeover to be completed as soon as possible so that people who are more invested in the Black Cats can get involved instead of Donald and Methven.