Stewart Donald claims 'love' for Sunderland is the reason he still has shares

Stewart Donald says he is ‘more fond of Sunderland than they are of me’ after explaining his decision to retain a minority stake in the club.

Donald was the majority shareholder for nearly three years after buying the club from Ellis Short in 2018. He has slowly reduced his shareholding since.

Last week he sold more of his shares to Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Juan Sortori, taking his stake to just 9%. That will allow him to get involved with National League side Eastleigh again – the club he left to buy Sunderland.

What was the reason for him keeping hold of the 9% stake in Sunderland at all, though? Well, according to him at least, it’s all about how ‘infectious’ the club is.

"It means that under the rules that if there's a deal to be done, I can go to another club," Donald told BBC Radio Solent about him reducing his Sunderland shareholding to 9%.

"It was part of the thinking, I had a chat with Kyril and Juan and they're really enjoying it I think - they've been great for the club. They're really enjoying it and it's been a gradual thing, Kyril has had a look at it and we've had a couple of conversations, as he's enjoying it more he wants to take more and get more involved and that works for me.

"I like being involved in a football club but the roles changed at Sunderland to just writing a cheque if needed, it's just a minority investor role. I talk to Kyril but they make all the decisions, as they should.

"We discussed it recently, it's all happened quite quickly - I'd like to retain 9% at Sunderland because I just love it, it's the most infectious place because they love it [football]. I can't think for any reason why if you could have a share of a club like that, you wouldn't want. It's a nice arrangement, they're good people and they have the best interests of the club at heart.

"I came in and it was a bit of a mess, I didn't get it the way the fans wanted and I got a bit of flak for that - and that's all fair enough. Ultimately I've passed it on to what

I hope fans will be pleased with, good people that are well funded. My role is a much lesser one so it frees me up to do something else. I'll always have an affection for them, I'm probably far more fond of Sunderland than they are of me but it's a special place but I'd like to be involved with Kyril and Juan, so we've kept it at 9%.

"But I'd like to be more involved in the day-to-day running of a club."

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