Stewart Donald anyone.....

Level Playing Field Donald, you’ve heard this phrase before no doubt. Put your begging bowl away, you are a small mid table League 1 club, get used to it .
 

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I have no real reason to wish any ill on Sunderland. They’re a genuine football team with a large catchment area. They really should be a top flight club.

But I can’t help experiencing pure schadenfreude from the misery of their fans. The impotent anger they display at everything and everyone, the entitlement, the storming out of the SoL that happens game after game whenever trouble comes their way (‘Beat the traffic at Sunderland by staying until the end’ quipped Gary Lineker on one occasion). I find their pointless fury really funny.

I hope for entertainment’s sake this is another whacky chapter that goes tits up for them. Get the popcorn!
 
Donald stated that he sold to the only person to stump up the cash he desperately needed because of his long term desire to support the club that he's run into the ground!!!
 
Scotchegg said:
I'm not sure his views of the club will depend on what I think, but for the time being I'll happily take Tiger's £3m plus a year to keep us afloat regardless of how loyal he may be.
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It’s not his £3m per annum that is keeping us afloat.
 
Victor1986 said:
Please produce documentary evidence of the £3M you claim he has provided - you cannot.
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Merry christmas to you too!!

Tiger is the front man for a extremely wealthy group of foreign investors that are subsidising Oxford United to the sum of around £3m per year under normal circumstances, and this year it may well be more.

Stewarrt Donald is a good egg, and has supported the club in the past. He had at least two opportunities to buy the club and neither worked out. Charlie was SD's voice and SD himself back this up, that on both occasions their valuation of the club was below that of those selling. It's their money and their choice, but it slightly frustrates me to see two people who are described as being loyal jumping ship to "buy" another club for many millions more than it would have cost to buy Oxford. However they made thir choice, and if Sunderland had been promoted in their first season they would have seen a very healthy return on their investment. But as we know that didn't happen and they pissed good money after bad chasing promotion and came across as naive and slighly disingenuous in the Netfilx documentary.

In the meantime, Tiger (and his merry men!) have pumped a tonne of cash into the club, the training ground, the youth structure and the playing squad that, despite recent results, still has players that could sell for many times more than we have paid for them.

I don't expect to see statues erected just yet, but I do feel that they deserve a little more respect for what they've achieved. We don't know aht the future holds but I'd imagine that SD may steer clear of football clubs for a little while after his recent experience no matter how much he pockets.
 
Scotchegg is spot on. I wouldn't swap them over that's for sure. Donald may have our best interests at heart, so too did Robin Heard. But I don't have any more confidence in him, I mean anyone who can't see through a charlatan like Methven really ought not to be trusted.
 
Didn't mean to be unseasonal Scotchers - happy Christmas & a better new year for all of us too.

I do not dispute that OUFC has benefited (financially) from Tiger's prescence - but it is very difficult to actually identify who the (many) characters are in the "wealthy group" you mention. The current difficult times are a real test of just how these folk will maintain their funding - I obviously hope they do - but the game has an unfortunate history of foreign investors suddenly deserting clubs across all four top divisions & I do not want OUFC featuring in a similar scenario.
You are right - SD will certainly steer clear of football for a while; I reckon he will depart the SOL early in the new year now that he has sold up - but his heart is still & always will be with the Yellows & I for one would welcome him back - NOT to oust Tiger for heavens sake - but to bring some "local", good old British funding into the Club.
 
Unfortunately, while SD is undoubtedly a friend of the club and has (as I understand it) helped out financially in the past, his record at a chairman at both Eastleigh and Sunderland is one of managing to spend a lot of money without creating much success on the pitch and of not leaving clubs in a better position at the end of his tenure than they were at the start. I've nothing against the bloke - his posts in the past on here were reasonable, logical and sensible - but I'm not sure I'd want him running the club.
 
Victor1986 said:
Please produce documentary evidence of the £3M you claim he has provided - you cannot.
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Correct. I think the scepticism around Tiger- and his actual plans for the club- are deep-rooted and genuine.

Let's not forget that he has sold players in pretty much every transfer window.
The amounts the club have received easily match the 3M per annum shortfall that he/his friends allegedly fund.

Post Covid, it's very difficult to judge him, but let's not forget that in January (when we had a very good chance of going up automatically) he sold two of our best players and provided no funds for adequate replacements.

I'd love to be proven wrong, but endless blustering from 1-2 posters on here about how he keeps the club going aren't good enough.

A Chairman with real ambition doesn't consistently sell the club's best players every year, certainly not without bringing in proper replacements.
And a Chairman with genuine funding doesn't miss paydays- it may have been a while ago, but it is still a legitimate concern.

It's all well and good to bang on about the 'model' but selling your best players and under-investing in replacements will end sooner or later. And not well.
Peterborough (who certainly follow the 'model') do sell most seasons, but they also pay pretty decent money to bring in replacements.

I still can't work out what Tiger, and his mates, plan for this club. Would I take SD as a new owner? In a heartbeat.
 
Northernyellow said:
Correct. I think the scepticism around Tiger- and his actual plans for the club- are deep-rooted and genuine.

Let's not forget that he has sold players in pretty much every transfer window.
The amounts the club have received easily match the 3M per annum shortfall that he/his friends allegedly fund.

Post Covid, it's very difficult to judge him, but let's not forget that in January (when we had a very good chance of going up automatically) he sold two of our best players and provided no funds for adequate replacements.

I'd love to be proven wrong, but endless blustering from 1-2 posters on here about how he keeps the club going aren't good enough.

A Chairman with real ambition doesn't consistently sell the club's best players every year, certainly not without bringing in proper replacements.
And a Chairman with genuine funding doesn't miss paydays- it may have been a while ago, but it is still a legitimate concern.

It's all well and good to bang on about the 'model' but selling your best players and under-investing in replacements will end sooner or later. And not well.
Peterborough (who certainly follow the 'model') do sell most seasons, but they also pay pretty decent money to bring in replacements.

I still can't work out what Tiger, and his mates, plan for this club. Would I take SD as a new owner? In a heartbeat.
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Just look at the club accounts if you want documentary evidence not just during Tigers time, but before with DE and IL. The club is hamstrung by the rental agreement with Kassam that means that we have to pay out a huge amount for the use of the stadium with very little revenue streams coming in beyond ticket sales and transfer fees for players.

Regardless of who is putting money in, the future of our club depends of us being sustainable. So whilst we as fans can moan about player sales, it is the only way we can progress. The model is there for all to see. Buy young promising talent, develop and sell for a profit. It's not 100% guaranteed, but we have seen that models success in the last 5 or 6 years with the likes of Roofe, O'Dowda, Johnson, Whyte, Baptiste and Dickie, and we could add Brannagan, Moore and Atkinson to that list now.

Compare that with the buying power of Sunderland and the model set up by SD. Look at how many players were sold on and how much was reinvested? And who did they invest that money on? The big money was spent on older players with no resale value who were clearly brought it for immediate success - which hasn't happened. Look at the fire sale of their youth players and backroom staff. Look at how they saved money on Sunderland's future to fund their day to day failings.

On the other hand, we have a board who have put long term funding into the training ground and youth structure, who are doing good work to develop community engagement, who are actively seeking a resolution to the ground situation and covering the day to day losses when very little money is coming back their way.

I know which model I prefer.
 
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Northernyellow said:
Correct. I think the scepticism around Tiger- and his actual plans for the club- are deep-rooted and genuine.

Let's not forget that he has sold players in pretty much every transfer window.
The amounts the club have received easily match the 3M per annum shortfall that he/his friends allegedly fund.

Post Covid, it's very difficult to judge him, but let's not forget that in January (when we had a very good chance of going up automatically) he sold two of our best players and provided no funds for adequate replacements.

I'd love to be proven wrong, but endless blustering from 1-2 posters on here about how he keeps the club going aren't good enough.

A Chairman with real ambition doesn't consistently sell the club's best players every year, certainly not without bringing in proper replacements.
And a Chairman with genuine funding doesn't miss paydays- it may have been a while ago, but it is still a legitimate concern.

It's all well and good to bang on about the 'model' but selling your best players and under-investing in replacements will end sooner or later. And not well.
Peterborough (who certainly follow the 'model') do sell most seasons, but they also pay pretty decent money to bring in replacements.

I still can't work out what Tiger, and his mates, plan for this club. Would I take SD as a new owner? In a heartbeat.
Click to expand...
It's all down to owning our own stadium. At the moment we are ticking over and Tiger & co are overseeing as best they can. If and when we get our own stadium the money men will release funds to push us on to at least the Championship. Sounds simple but in reality it's not!!
I do agree about replacements this season though. The recruiting could have been better. That's why KR said he wants FOUR new signings.
 
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