The Political Economy of Football V2

Ellis Short will be able to recoup some of the money tied up in the £140m debts he has cleared to facilitate the sale of Sunderland. The agreement with the purchasing consortium does not include the Hilton Gardens Inn hotel which is situated opposite the Stadium of Light. Short will also retain an area of land next to the hotel which has planning permission for a further development, with the two having a combined valuation of £30m.

Hull rugby league supremo Adam Pearson is heading a consortium trying to buy crisis club Sunderland. Pearson and his team have approached Ellis Short and are now one of two live bidders for the relegated Black Cats. Prospective bids have foundered at the due diligence stage. Having been relegated from the top flight in 2017, Sunderland have the advantage of a £35m Premier League parachute payment next season but the latest financial figures, released a year ago, revealed £69m was owed to Short and £68m to Security Bank Capital, with the latter arrangement costing £8m a year in interest payments. The austerity measures implemented by Martin Bain, the chief executive, have reduced those arrears appreciably and Short is prepared to walk away in exchange for a buyer repaying a significant portion of his personal loan in addition to shouldering the wider debt but the finances remain forbidding. Kieran Maguire of the Price of Football has commented, 'Under Ellis Short Sunderland have ...