| Quinn Close To Sunderland Takeover.
From: BBC.co.uk/Sport
Niall Quinn's takeover of Sunderland is set to be confirmed by Friday, BBC Sport understands.
The ex-Black Cats striker's consortium has agreed a price for the shares of chairman Bob Murray, who admitted a deal was close to being finalised.
Quinn said: "While we note and welcome Bob's disclosure, there are legalities to finalise before completion.
"Stock Exchange rules restrict me from commenting further but I can say we are committed to closing the deal."
Murray went public over the possible deal with Quinn's group of eight investors on Wednesday, saying the consortium will pay only £10m for the Championship club.
He said: "A figure of £80m has been mentioned in some quarters. I've spent millions acquiring my shares as well as investing and also given more than 20 years of my life to the club.
"We started our negotiations at £20m and all parties agreed to a price of £16m in March when we confirmed we were in discussions.
"The price may ultimately be a third lower than this so that more can be invested in the club.
"That would mean the price for the club could be as low as £10m - and the figure for my shares would be £5.7m, which is slightly different to what some people have been suggesting.
"I agreed to this price simply because of the very deep feeling and love I have for the club and the people."
But Quinn will also be taking on the club's debts of nearly £40m and he added: "All I can say is I have enjoyed the spirited negotiations."
The chairman, who owns nearly 57% of the shares of the club, has already confirmed he will stand down from his role at the end of June after 20 years.
Quinn's deal was in doubt last week, with claims that four of his consortium were pulling out.
But Quinn flew to the north-east for talks with Murray - in the hope that he would seal the deal.
He has spent the summer trying to put together a package with his group Drumaville to take control of the club from Murray.
The Black Cats were relegated from the Premiership with a record low points tally of 15 last season and have debts of about £40m.
Sunderland have been without a manager since Mick McCarthy was sacked in March.
Quinn's consortium have been linked with Martin O'Neill and BBC Sport understands they will make an approach for the former Celtic boss once they have assumed control of the club.
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HURRAH!!
All i can say is its going to be great once we have more money than Chelsea and i'm not talking out my arse, one of the consortium has more money than abramovic so its all good.
Lets hope we are out of the Championship next season. |