THE extent of Sunderland’s financial mismanagement has been laid bare after new director Charlie Methven revealed the club’s former regime was spending a staggering £1,000-a-month on rearranging the plastic plants in their offices.

Sunderland’s on-field rebuilding project continued on Sunday afternoon as first-half goals from Max Power, Josh Maja and Chris Maguire secured a comprehensive 3-0 win over Scunthorpe United, but behind the scenes, new owner Stewart Donald continues to wrestle with the situation he inherited from former chairman Ellis Short.

Short was forced to write off around £125m of debt when he sold up this summer, but despite the chronic financial situation at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland’s previous owner was still squandering huge sums in the closing stages of his reign.

Speaking at the launch of a new business club aimed at repairing the relationship with Wearside’s corporate community, Methven outlined some of the spending projects that were given the green light prior to the change of ownership.

In a startling admission, the new backroom chief revealed the Black Cats had been spending £1,000-a-month to rotate plastic pot plants around the various rooms at the Stadium of Light and the club’s other offices.

They also paid £30,000 to commission a report from an external branding company on what the club was perceived to represent – only to be told that Sunderland was an “old-fashioned football club”. Methven quipped, “We could have told you that for 30p, sat in Oxfordshire”.

As well as spending large amounts of money on unnecessary projects, Methven also claims the club was badly structured behind the scenes prior to Donald’s arrival.

The former PR executive claims there was not a single person selling sponsorship under the former regime, and says that while 15 people were employed in marketing and PR, only one was responsible for commercial sales.

Donald oversaw a number of staff departures in the immediate aftermath of his arrival as Sunderland’s new owner, but Methven claims the overhaul was necessary as the club was employing “just over twice as many people as Newcastle United” despite its slide down the leagues.

Short was forced to write off around £125m of debt in order to sell up in the wake of relegation to League One, with Donald agreeing to pay £40m over a series of instalments. The insurance magnate was also forced to cover around £25m of deferred transfer payments that were due this summer.

“They (the former regime) had forgotten what Sunderland is,” said Methven. “We want to be a proper football club, and proud of it. It is the people, it is the history, it is the culture – that is what a proper football club is and we need to get back to being proud of that.”

There was plenty to be proud of today as Sunderland’s players maintained their unbeaten start to the League One season with an emphatic success.

Power opened the scoring with a ten-yard header, and Maja added a second goal as he swept home from just outside the box. The third goal arrived just before the interval, and saw Maguire open his Sunderland account with a deft back-heel following a low cross from Lynden Gooch.

The win followed an opening-day success over Charlton, and means Sunderland have recorded back-to-back home victories in the league for the first time for almost two years.

“One of the things I believed I could try to address straight away was how we play in this stadium and the results we get here,” said Jack Ross. “We hammer home the importance to the players all the time of making this a place where opponents dread coming to.

“I’ve been there myself, when I’ve been to Ibrox and Parkhead as a player in Scotland, they were horrible at times to go to because you knew what you would face in terms of the standard of the opposition and the way they would play.

“If they started in that manner, you knew the crowd would get behind them. It was difficult, you almost feel like you can’t breathe. That’s what we need to do to teams here.

“It’s easy to talk about it, but the next part is doing that on the pitch. I think what we’ve seen so far is a group that are trying to do that and play in a manner with high energy levels, getting after teams and playing in a really expansive manner.”

Ross reserved special praise for Maja, who claimed his third goal in as many league games as he drilled home a low finish.

“I think I’ve said often enough that that area where he scored his goal from, he’s so good in that position,” said the Sunderland boss. “He moves it so quickly and hits it so early. He causes problems for goalkeepers and I can’t ask any more from him in terms of his contribution so far.”

Sunderland return to action at Gillingham on Wednesday, and Ross is hoping Dylan McGeouch and Donald Love will both be able to travel to the Priestfield Stadium. Adam Matthews is an injury doubt after suffering a calf injury.