Got £50M Sitting Around? Snap up Sunderland for a Cut-Price Deal!

The Championship side Sunderland A.F.C. is up for sale, as chairman and owner Ellis Short looks to cut his losses. The asking price for the former Premier League club? £50m! The Black Cats – as they’re affectionately referred to – have been on the market for over a year, but the search for new ownership has been unsuccessful, according to online sportsbook news.

The manager remains critical of the owner

Former Wales manager Chris Coleman has been in charge of the club since last year’s mid-November, having taken over the role after Sunderland sacked Simon Grayson who served as manager less than 6 months.

Coleman believes that the Stadium of Light side deserves an owner that is willing to back them all the way and shares the same passion for the club as the traditional supporters do, which is why he wants new leadership to take over for the long-term.

“At a club like Sunderland there is incredible passion, and a lot of supporters need people here who care about the club as much as them,” commented Coleman. “Therein lies a problem; obviously Ellis wants to sell the club and they recognise that maybe his love for the club was maybe yesterday.”

It is believed that last summer discussion were underway over a £100m sale, however negotiations broke down, which – coupled with their bad performances on the pitch – is why the current owner is asking for a reduced price of £50m.

Sunderland are cheaper than modern-day players

After first getting controlling interest in the club in September of 2008, Irish-American businessman Ellis Short bought out the remaining shares of the club from Drumaville Consortium at end of that same season, which essentially gave him full control of the Black Cats. At the time, his involvement with the club made him the fourth American owner of a Premier League side, however it’s questionable how effective his tenure has been, per online sportsbooks in UK.

Owner Ellis Short has been in charge of the club for nearly a decade (source: Roker Report)

After 33 games in the Championship, Sunderland sit at the very bottom of the league with only 26 points to their name; if they don’t come up with a solution to their dire problems soon, they’ll be relegated to the third division – League One. Considering their situation it’s easy to see why Ellis is willing to sell it for £50m, although some corners of the industry would argue the price should be even lower than it is.

Comparing what some of the biggest Premier League sides pay for player transfers, Sunderland is actually relatively cheaper. Last summer, Man City have paid over £50m just for AS Monaco’s left-back Benjamin Mendy and recently they’ve added center-back Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao for a reported fee of £58.5m. Man United have spent even more on just a single player; striker Romelu Lukaku was signed form Everton last summer for a staggering price of £76m.

In essence, any of the two aforementioned clubs could purchase Sunderland and have their players from the youth academy play against the team, if FA regulations permitted for such scenarios (but of course, they don’t).