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 possibility of a Black Cats takeover being completed by Sunderland’s opening game of the 2020/21 League One season against Bristol Rovers on 12th September.
Walker’s appearance on this podcast comes after he recently wrote an article for The Athletic, titled: ‘Sunderland in Limboland’ in which he discussed the situation of the Black Cats takeover process.
In this article, the journalist revealed that The Athletic recently asked the North East club’s board for an update on the takeover process, to which they replied: ‘no comment.’
Additionally, Walker explained that ‘there are said to be two “bidders” for the club’ at present, one being the ‘FPP Sunderland’ group, that is made up of ‘three American businessmen’ who have previously loaned the Black Cats £9m to keep the club going, and the other being British businessman William Storey.
During this recent podcast appearance, Walker discussed the latest with regard to the ongoing Sunderland takeover process and shared his thoughts on the possibility of a takeover being completed by Sunderland’s first game of the 2020/21 League One season.
He said: “Part of the excitement around last season was that there were Americans coming in to take over and they were linked to Michael Dell, Sunderland would be transformed.
“That quickly dissolved into a loan from Americans for £9m – and we don’t know the status of that loan.
“What we do know is that the loan is secured against the club. If for any reason, Sunderland default on the loan, then it falls into the hands of the three American men, whose initials are ‘FPP’ and that would be for £9m, so you could actually argue that, at one level, the realistic value of the club is £9m.
“We also don’t know the existing relationship, economically, that the previous owner, Ellis Short, has with the club and has with the two men who took over – or who were given the club at a very, very good price – Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven.
“Stewart Donald remains in charge, but has stepped back, Methven departed the scene last December – he has still 6% of the club. It’s really hard to know. Their season starts on Saturday in the League Cup against Hull, and then they have Bristol Rovers on Saturday week. It would be a surprise to everyone if there was a takeover completed by Bristol Rovers.”
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So, as can be seen in what Walker had to say, despite current Black Cats owner Donald declaring that he was “desperately trying” to sell the club earlier this year, it appears as though he is looking likely to still be Sunderland’s owner come the first game of the 2020/21 League One season on 12th September.
Judging by the journalist’s comments, it appears as though there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding Sunderland at present. Hopefully, for Black Cats fans, the club’s future becomes more clear before too long.