SAFC secures refinancing package

Sunderland plc's cash worries seem to be a little less onerous this morning with the announcement that they have secured a vital refinancing package.

The club has successfully completed negotiations with Barclays and Lombard for two £14m loan facilities repayable over seven years.

Under the agreement, Barclays will convert part of the club's existing overdraft to loan funding; Lombard have agreed to increase the level of funding they provide, and also to increase the repayment period of the club's existing loans.

But that doesn't mark the end of the process - the club says it will continue to look at its finances because it wants to "secure long term funding in the
future to match the length of its borrowings with the life of its long-term
assets, including the Stadium of Light and Football Academy".

Today's news doesn't mean, however, that Mick McCarthy has additional funds to strengthen the squad, or that the club has escaped its substantial debts completely.

Vice-chairman John Fickling explained, "What has changed is how it is going to be repaid and more importantly, over what timescale.

"The club hasn't received any new funds to invest in the team or any other issues for that matter.

"What it does mean is that we have dealt with the traumatic and immediate impact of relegation and we have survived.

"It means the club has arrested what could have been a serious decline. The position now has levelled out and we are in a position to move forwards and upwards."