Steve Davison has given some detail into the running of Sunderland AFC, claiming that despite owning just 41%, KLD has full control...
CONTROL
“So Kyril has 41% of the shares but he has full control of the football club. He’s responsible and accountable for all the decisions that get made in the football club. He’s obviously working closely with the board and the executive team to make those decisions and implement them.”
WILLING SELLERS AND BUYERS
“I understand that there’s a statement from Stewart and Charlie saying that they’re willing to sell their shares in the club. Clearly you have to have willing sellers and willing buyers. We’ve now got willing sellers in terms of what Stewart and Charlie have said, and we believe Kyril is interested in purchasing more shares in the football club going forward so you’d hope that they could reach some conclusion around the sale of the shares to Kyril.”
RUNNING THE CLUB
“When Kyril bought the club, it was on the basis that he was going to have full control of the football club. So Kyril makes all of the decisions at the club. If that hadn’t been the case he wouldn’t have proceeded with the purchase. So the control is documented as part of a shareholder agreement which defines how the club is run, and this is common practice in many organisations, and practically what this means is that all the decisions are made by Kyril, and it’s in discussion with the board and the executive team. We have operated this way since Kyril acquired the controlling stake.”
