Sunderland seal survival

14 April 2012

Sunderland today claimed to have won the battle for survival after securing a vital refinancing package.

The Black Cats, who plummeted out of the Premiership with debts of £36million at the end of last season, have fought hard to keep their heads above water ever since, dispensing with 24 of their first-team squad, including big names Kevin Phillips, Thomas Sorensen and Gavin McCann, and making swingeing cuts across the business.

And today they announced they have converted a short-term overdraft facility with long-term bankers Barclays and increased their repayment period with financiers Lombard, both to seven years to make the immediate future safe.

The life-saving package does not mean manager Mick McCarthy will have any new money to invest in strengthening his squad for the push for promotion, nor that the battle against a crippling debt is over, but it does mean that the Wearsiders can start to look ahead.

'What it doesn't mean in practical terms is that the club has received an injection of cash or cleared any of its debts,' said vice-chairman John Fickling.

'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.'

Sunderland's plight became clear as relegation last season emerged as an inevitability after a disastrous run of results.

The drop alone cost the club a minimum of £10million in lost revenue, and chairman Bob Murray and his directors immediately set about the task of slashing expenditure.

The wage bill has been halved to £7million, mainly by trimming the playing staff from in excess of 40 to little more than 20.

McCarthy's players helped out by agreeing to defer a portion of their wages in a deal brokered through the PFA, and a run in this season's FA Cup, which sees them go to Birmingham for a fifth-round replay next Wednesday, has helped.

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