Fixing speakers and lifts :lol:
Charlie Methven has described FPP's eight-figure investment into Sunderland AFC as 'the start of a good relationship'.
American investment trio John Phelan, Glenn Fuhrman and Rob Platek invested an eight-figure sum into the football club last week, via Stewart Donald's holding company Madrox who own the club.
And while the trio, initially tipped to be looking to takeover the Stadium of Light club, don't have any shares for their investment, Methven believes the deal that has been concluded is the best for all parties at this stage - with potential for the dealings between the two groups to grow in the future.
Methven spoke alongside Kevin Ball at a supporters' branch event last Friday evening at Town End Farm Working Men's Club, and answered a number of questions on the football club, with plenty of interest naturally in that investment deal with FPP.
Asked what they were getting for the money they've put into the club, the Black Cats' executive director said: "I do not want to speak for them and their intentions, but obviously I am delighted they have decided to support us and we can now put their money to good use for the club.
"The terms of the deal are confidential between the two parties, but Sunderland won't ever have to pay any money back.
Talks between the two parties began back in the summer during the close season, with Methven using his contacts in the States to start conversations with the trio who manage Michael Dell's assets. It is believed the Netflix series played a part in their interest in the Wearside club growing.
They are understood to have interest in acquiring an English football club for some time. And although reports of Dell's involvement - the 25th richest man in the world - were initially exaggerated by reports, the trio themselves have more than enough personal wealth.
That is why they have previously looked at numerous Premier League clubs, including Chelsea, Watford and Newcastle. With Chelsea and Watford they were put off by the need to build a new stadium, while Newcastle United's need for a new training facility saw them walk away from that potential deal.
But with Sunderland already having a modern stadium and state of the art training facilities for both the first team and the youth academy, it was an attractive proposition to potential wealthy investors after their fall to League One resulted in the club's debts been cleared, the club's finances been brought more into order by Donald and co, and the price being lower as a result of it's current third tier standing.
Of the negotiations, Methven said: "The previous two or three months have been very busy and it's not the kind of work anyone enjoys doing. All the jumping through legal hurdles and negotiating contracts.
"But I think the end result that we have is a very good thing for Sunderland Football Club.
Charlie Methven (left, with owner Stewart Donald) has outlined his vision for Sunderland
Charlie Methven (L) with Sunderland owner Stewart Donald (Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
"They have decided to invest their money into the football club via our holding company and that will allow them to see how the club progresses, and how things pan out for the club with that money behind it.
"In the past 18 months we've had to make significant cuts to make the club sustainable moving forward, and now we can begin a more exciting phase of going the other way now."
So how will the money, put straight into the club's accounts, be spent?
They should allow Phil Parkinson a little wiggle room come January when the transfer window re-opens, but supporters shouldn't expect a big splurge of money.
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Already the highest spenders by considerable distance in League One with a wage bill of around £10m, it would hardly be attractive to a potential investor to think that amount of spending in comparison to their rivals was not enough and more would be needed.
Instead, general improvements and maintaining of infrastructure will be where the majority of the money goes.
"The really important thing in the short term is making sure the club is financially funded to achieve what we want to achieve," Methven said.
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"We want to be sure we remain the best funded club in League One or one of the top five if we were to go up to the Championship. We want to assure we can afford to keep our infrastructure in good condition and keep our category one academy status.
"The money will be used largely to improve various things around the club. Some of it might sound very uninteresting, but we believe they're important. Fixing the speakers at the Stadium of Light, for example, or the lift at the Academy of Light is broken and needs fixing. These are quite significant payments to make, and this new investment will help that and will, in the long term, ensure the club's infrastructure remains of the highest standard."
