Jackie Broon

They're a strange bunch like. Their billionaire owner who had enough money to cover their operating losses out of his own pocket has been replaced by bloke who has been trying, unsuccessfully for years, to buy promotion from the conference. Cue unbridled rejoicing on Wearside They seem to be suffering from some sort of collective form of bipolar disorder. There's going to be a crashing low for them when reality hits. They're an odd bunch the mackems, after all they've been through they don't seem to have developed an ounce of healthy skepticism.

On the basis of this: https://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport/football/sunderland-afc/stewart-donald-reveals-substantial-investment-in-sunderland-once-takeover-is-complete-1-9143153 He's actually talking about putting around £10m into the consortium that he's now a 'major player' in, which is a substantial amount for him, but a pittance in football terms.

In his statement Short said there were higher bidders, but these guys were the preferred bid. So there must be some cash being paid to him at some point. I think it's very likely that if/when the full details of the deal drip out the current blind euphoria on rtg will very quickly turn around. They've pretty much all gone from despising him to being entirely confident he's a good bloke with the interest of the club at heart and has given them a parting gift of £140m. There will almost certainly be some very big strings attached to that. I wouldn't be surprised if he's walked away retaining the ownership of all their land and property, rights to the parachute payment income, player sales and lots of other caveats.

No chance our fat cunt would ever do that. Yep. Interesting stuff in that statement about being run ‘realistically though’. Doesn’t sound like they’ll get much money apart from the parachute payments Realistically is sensible with them being in League One, as it's such a cut off in funds, Parachute payments aside, their wage bill is going to be monstrous at that level. I'd suspect the parachute payments have been committed to cover the part of the debt secured against them. If Short has paid that off, plus written off his own part of the debt, that's an astonishing gesture!

Fenton

It's a good read. Who wouldn't want to buy a League 1 club with £100m+ debt? "Buy us on the cheap, loads of land around the stadium ripe for development." Yes because land in Sunderland is in high demand. Maybe they could build some high end apartment blocks for rich Russians to buy? Someone gives him a reality check regarding Sunderland property prices later in the thread. Just think of the street names they could have... Relegation Way, Capitulation Crescent, Administration Close...

Classiest supporters.

Not quite, Bolton still on 40. Bolton and Burton play each other. 41 points is the minimum for survival. They are mathematically down.

That team of championship standard plodders is now possibly going to finish in the top 10, something they have managed only 3 times in the past 60 years.

And Shearer's final match, what a way to go out! I can't recall much fuss being made by us about the fact that it was the fifth consecutive win, given the 'in a row' thing that the mackems seem so obsessed with.

Yes, but only on goal difference if either Bolton or Birmingham don't get another point.

What's the plan when you're heading for League One, with mountains of debt and a pink elephant of a stadium that you couldn't fill when giving away thousands of free tickets in the Premier League? Increase the capacity to 60,000 https://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/takeover-talks-not-going-great.1426593/page-2#post-27408245

All possible permutations are bad for them tonight: Birmingham win - Birmingham would be uncatchable from that position, Bolton not getting another point would be their only realistic hope. Bolton win - Bolton would be uncatchable and Birmingham will pick up enough from their remaining fixtures to stay ahead of them anyway. Draw - both of their main relegation rivals pull another point ahead of them. Win, win, win.

It's the Dunning-Stifler Effect. Get well soon Butch!

That would make very little sense now, the deadline for the points deduction not to be carried over to next season was 5pm today. The fact they haven't gone into administration is probably terrible news for them in the long run, chances are they'll end up in administration sooner or later and the points deduction will actually hurt them when they do. It could even send them spiraling into League 2

Not sure how you come to that conclusion. In fact, it will result in a greater loss of value than would otherwise occur because assets will be sold on a disorderly basis and decided by a third party rather than over a period of time and as decided by the board. Assets? Short is reportedly willing to write off his part of the debt and give the club away for nothing and he can't even find anyone willing to take it off his hands.

There is no foreseeable prospect of their finances improving, the club is running at a huge loss and there's no realistic prospect of being able to refinance the debt at the end of the loan term. There are no assets or income of equal value to secure it against once the parachute payments end and there almost certainly won't be enough not enough income to cover repayments. For both Short and the loan company cutting their losses at this point makes sense because the longer they leave it the larger their losses are likely to be.

"Around half of the debt, £69m, is owed to the London-based businessman personally and it is thought the billionaire may forego some or all of that figure as part of any deal." http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/football/43157628

He gains from administration in that it would allow him to just walk away from the club. Otherwise he has to find someone to take it off his hands, which isn't looking likely.

On this note would it make sense for them to go into admin this season when they're all but dead but not quite? Get the penalty this season rather than next. I have no pretense to be a financial expert, but what I have gleaned is... It is currently costing Short £20m per season to keep the club afloat and he wants rid as soon as possible. He is willing to virtually give the club away to anyone willing to take on the club and its other £30m of debt secured against the parachute payments, writing off the remaining debt owed to his company. Administration would allow Short to simply walk away, the administrators would look to find a new owner, who would be liable to pay the secured creditors (including the £30m) and 30% of what is owed to the unsecured creditors (including Short's company). Going into administration before the 22nd deadline would mean that the club doesn't end going into next season with a points deduction, which would almost certainly lessen the chances of finding a buyer. Unless I'm completely wrong in the above (which is a distinct possibility) if relegation is still looking inevitable on the 22nd there may be significant benefits for Short in pulling the plug and putting the club into administration. The external debt is £68million secured against the parachute payments isn't it? The rest of the debt is owed to Short so he would be writing his own money off which doesn't make sense to me. He's indicated that he would give the club away to anyone willing to take on the debt, and may be willing to write off his part of the debt as part of that. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/amp/football/43157628 Realistically he'll know he is not getting that money back, the club is a money pit and is just going to cost him more and more millions the longer he owns it. It makes perfect sense to for him to want to cut his losses.

On this note would it make sense for them to go into admin this season when they're all but dead but not quite? Get the penalty this season rather than next. I have no pretense to be a financial expert, but what I have gleaned is... It is currently costing Short £20m per season to keep the club afloat and he wants rid as soon as possible. He is willing to virtually give the club away to anyone willing to take on the club and its other £30m of debt secured against the parachute payments, writing off the remaining debt owed to his company. Administration would allow Short to simply walk away, the administrators would look to find a new owner, who would be liable to pay the secured creditors (including the £30m) and 30% of what is owed to the unsecured creditors (including Short's company). Going into administration before the 22nd deadline would mean that the club doesn't end going into next season with a points deduction, which would almost certainly lessen the chances of finding a buyer. Unless I'm completely wrong in the above (which is a distinct possibility) if relegation is still looking inevitable on the 22nd there may be significant benefits for Short in pulling the plug and putting the club into administration.

The deadline for the administration points deduction to apply to this season rather than next (if they would be relegated anyway) is Thursday 22nd. With a chunk of their debt secured against parachute payments and little hope of getting back to the Premier League before they end, I wouldn't be surprised if they go into administration if they lose to Preston.

Hull 4-3

Sundenfreude