Stewart Donald's first press conference as Sunderland owner

Whatever else happens during their Wearside reign, new owner, Stewart Donald, and fellow director, Charlie Methven, are clearly determined to do things differently. Yesterday, less than 24 hours after their takeover was officially rubber-stamped, they sat in the media room at the Stadium of Light and discussed their plans for the club.

Covering a wide range of topics from the financial terms of the deal to their hopes and aspirations for the future, they provided an illuminating insight into how they intend to turn Sunderland around.

ON THE FINANCES OF THE DEAL

Donald: “We’ve given Ellis £40m, so that’s the deal price, and in return for that, Ellis has tidied up his debt and that’s now gone from the football club. That’s not ported to us, or anything like that.

“In some of the other deals, that was planned to port across. Ellis was very clear that he didn’t want the debt, but we didn’t want the debt either so we refused that. We said to Ellis, ‘No that’s fine, you wipe it, we won’t take it’. So the reality is that Sunderland is debt free, which for the fans and everybody concerned, is good news.”

ON THIS SUMMER’S SPENDING COMMITMENTS

Methven: “This summer, people who follow the Sunderland situation closely will understand that there is a considerable cash requirement. The discussion with Ellis was that we would be able to pay him over a period of time because he knew that we were going to have quite a bit of investment that needed to be made this summer.

Donald: “In terms of the transfer money that’s owed (this summer), it’s a little bit more than the £18m that has been speculated. I think it’s nearer £25m.”

ON ELLIS SHORT AND THE PARACHUTE PAYMENTS

Methven: “The way in which Ellis has allowed us to do it is to pay some of the £40m in stages, to help us with the cash flow requirement this summer. The reality when you do this kind of deal, and there is still money outstanding on the deal, is that the person who has that money outstanding will want to take security against something so that if the owners then didn’t pay, he would have something to cover his money.

“That money is secured against parachute payments, but that is not Ellis taking the parachute payments. That is just him making sure he gets the full value of the £40m from us.”

ON THE LACK OF ‘INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS’

Methven: “It became clear very early in the process that the timescale was getting very crunched, and that anything that delayed the period of the takeover was going to have a material impact on this summer’s business.

“We took advice from contacts of ours in and around the game, and at the Football League, and what became clear was that the process would become quicker and more straightforward if the club was simply taken over by Stewart.

“There are other people that we both have in mind that have further capital and further contacts, that we think could be useful for Sunderland going forward. And there are people that have expressed an interest to Stewart and me in having a stake in the club going forward. But Stewart will be the majority shareholder whatever happens.”

ON DONALD’S ABILITY TO FUND SUNDERLAND’S RECOVERY

Donald: “I am not going to be able to compete with £50-60m transfers. Right at the top end - the Man Citys and Man Uniteds, then I’m not your man for that.

“But can we get Sunderland back to the Premier League with me in charge? Absolutely. But I will have to do things right and I won’t be able to make Ellis Short proportion mistakes, and he would say that himself.

“He has written off £125m or something in that region. That would hurt me more than it hurts Ellis. But can I get the club back to the Premier League? Absolutely.”

ON SUNDERLAND’S SUMMER TRANSFER BUDGET

Donald: “We will be able to provide as much as is needed. The reality is that in League One, the transfer fees aren’t large.

“Looking at the numbers that we have put through, the budget for Sunderland is going to be pretty hefty for League One. I would imagine it’s going to be a lot more than any of the teams that got promoted last season had.

“We can generate what funds we need for that. Obviously, there’s quite a huge discrepancy between the remaining player income in relation to transfer sales and the money going out.

“That needs funding, and we’ve committed to fund that. We tidy up that situation, and that leaves us neutral. Then we’re looking at the playing budget after that, and there’ll obviously be transfer fees involved. That will be affected by what money we can bring in, but it is going to be a good budget for Sunderland, and I’m sure it will be a budget that one or two Championship clubs would like.”

ON DEALING WITH THE CURRENT SQUAD

Donald: “The players have got us into this situation, so if they don’t want to be here – and a couple of them have gone public with that – it’s not as simple as that. They’re our players and if we want them here, they’ll be here and they’ll abide by our rules. That’s what they’ll do.

“If they say they want to leave, we’ll have a conversation. But that doesn’t mean they can rip up their contracts that we paid a lot of money for if we perceive they’ve got a lot of value. If some of them dig their heels in and say they don’t want to stay, we’ll deal with it.”

ON CHANGING SUNDERLAND’S CULTURE

Methven: “We are going to act in the interests of the club and for some people who’ve been acting in their own interests for an awful long time at this club, it’s going to come as a tough surprise to be dealing with people who are very, very clear and have worked in football and understand these games. We will act in the interests of the club.

“That could mean a range of different outcomes and we can’t discuss individual cases. But when we sit down with people we will be very clear what we’re trying to achieve for the football club, and if people want to try and push against that, we will push back quite hard.