Witnessing a sold-out Stadium of Light with the club’s fanatical fans singing their hearts out at full volume will tell you all you need to know about the enormous potential of Sunderland Association Football Club.

The club’s 49,000 capacity all-seater stadium is the fourth largest in the Premier League, behind Old Trafford, The Emirates and bitter rivals Newcastle’s St James’ Park. The Black Cats also have one of the highest attendances in the top flight, averaging an astonishing 40,355 on match days last season. Sunderland’s vast and devoted fanbase provides a major boost to the club’s coffers every weekend as well as the platform they need to establish themselves as a genuine force in the Premier League.

No wonder current owner Ellis Short was so keen to wrestle full control of the club away from fellow majority shareholders the Irish Drumaville Consortium in May 2009. The American believes that Sunderland’s potential growth is unrivalled if they can manage to maintain a firm-footing in the Premier League and Short certainly has the financial muscle to back such dreams.

The billionaire has ploughed over £100m of his own money into the club since taking over. As a further bonus, this investment has been turned into shares meaning The Mackems will not have to repay Short any of this money should he decide to walk way from the club. A fantastic gesture from a businessman who puts the club’s needs first before his own, unlike many others in the Premier League. Of course the billionaire owner must be supremely confident of seeing a return on his money, something which chairman Niall Quinn pointed out earlier this year, revealing:

“People say, ‘Why is he [Short] here?’ It’s the potential which is why he’s putting all this money in; he wants the asset to grow and he feels in five to ten years that the asset will be worth far more than it would if he had just let it go. He feels it will be good value in time, especially with the way the world [television] rights are going.

“If you ask him why he came in the first place, I think he would say he couldn’t believe this team was never out of the bottom five and had not won a trophy since 1973 and hadn’t won one since before the War prior to that and were still getting a bigger home crowd than Liverpool.”

But can Sunderland fulfil this potential? Since the club’s current stadium was built, as a springboard for potential success, in 1997 the North East club has enjoyed mixed fortunes in the Premier League. Two consecutive seventh placed finishes in the early ‘noughties’ is the be it’s been for SAFC over the last decade, however this monumental effort was followed by the bitter disappointment of two record-low point scoring relegations. The club bounced back in style under Irishman Roy Keane who helped return the club to English football’s top division in 2007.

Keane, of course, has been and gone since then and Sunderland have built slowly and steadily under the astute guidance of Steve Bruce who led his side to 13th last term. A new stadium was never going to bring immediate success to the club but it has helped attract better players and investors such as Short who have the financial backing to bring the club onto the next level. But given the current level of spending in the Premier League even a man as wealthy as Short may struggle to keep up with the big spenders.

Even now Sunderland do not follow a workable business model with the club’s wages taking up an astonishing 78% of their annual turnover. Ultimately the club are relying on the finances of Short to compete in the big league. Yet despite spending big in the transfer market since returning to the Premier League the club have failed to even break into the top ten.

With the current gap between the top and bottom of the Premier League, The Black Cats are currently part of a select group of sides that, at best can aim for Europa League qualification. Yet this requires finishing seventh, where Liverpool finished last season despite their enormous resources. This would take a gigantic effort from Bruce and his side who would be competing against a host of other clubs with big ambitions. Securing themselves a regular finish inside the top ten over the next few years would also represent success for a club that is all to familiar with The Championship.

Sunderland are slowly beginning to lose they ‘yo-yo’ tag and establish themselves as secure Premier League outfit. And if Short continues to invest in the club and the fans carry on turning up every week then the sky’s the limit for Sunderland.

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