Dear ______.
Thank you for your recent email to Mr. Bain and Mr. Short. We appreciate you taking the time contact us, and I would in turn like to take this opportunity share some thoughts with you.
Martin Bain has been brought to the club by Ellis Short to help achieve football and financial stability. It is not something that can happen overnight, especially given mistakes of the past, which Mr. Short would acknowledge. We are contending with a huge drop in income from Premier League to Championship and are having to cut our cloth accordingly as we aim to turn the club around. Mr Short continues to fund the business shortfalls, however it was simply not sustainable to continue operating in the way the club had been in recent years and a line had to be drawn a line in the sand.
In the time Ellis Short has been involved in the club he has invested a huge amount of money and, which I feel is important to clarify, has never taken a penny from the business. He would be the first to say that the money he has committed has not always been spend wisely, which again is something that we have to change. In Martin Bain, the club has a strong leader who is making positive changes to how we operate our football business in order to address this.
As previously mentioned, Mr Short continues to fund the club, however the money he puts in is currently going towards elements such as the wage bill, legacy transfer fees (transfer costs relating to players signed in previous years), running costs and other operating expenses, so supporters don’t see the investment he is making as it is not being spent on transfer fees.
It is imperative that we work smarter in terms of our player trading, whether that be acquisitions or sales and this is a fundamental issue highlighted by the chief executive when he joined the club. By not generating cash from player sales to subsidise new signings, the club has been heavily reliant on owner funding, which is not a sustainable model for any football club, hence the need for change.
Our primary focus over the summer has been to re-build and re-shape the squad for the Championship. We have done a lot of work to bring in the right players and importantly to move on those players which did not fit into our vision for the future. Simon Grayson has been clear in the type of player he wanted at the club, hard-working, playing for the shirt, respecting the club – and I think that’s something every Sunderland fan would echo. It is also something that has perhaps not always been the case in the past.
We have a good group of players now, a mixture of youth and experience, who are desperate to succeed here. We need to encourage and nurture them and we are confident that we will see the fruits of that as the season progresses.
There is no quick fix but please be assured that we are committed to making the club stronger for the long-term.
Thank you for your support.
With kind regards,
Louise
