Interesting news from Sunderland as chairman Niall Quinn has stepped down from his role as chairman to take over the job of promoting the team's international development. Owner Ellis Short will be the club's new chairman. It's tempting to portray this as a major shakeup, but that's probably not particularly true - the team isn't cutting ties with Quinn and while we don't really know what Short's approach would be it would come as a surprise if it's radically different to Quinn's.
Niall Quinn Steps Down As Sunderland Chairman
Niall Quinn has stepped down from his position as Sunderland chairman and been reassigned to ‘international development’. Is a major shakeup afoot at the Stadium of Light?
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Short has painted the change as being necessary in expanding the club’s presence worldwide:
With financial fair play rules coming into effect it is essential for the long-term success of the club that we develop interests on a global scale and there’s no one better than Niall to sell the ethos of Sunderland to an international audience. He has been keen to drive this change for some time and I agree that it’s the way forward for us now.
Short went on to remind his audience that it ‘was the same group of people running the club,’ so it sounds like as far as Steve Bruce (who received a great deal of public support from Quinn) is concerned, everything is status quo. For more on the switch and everything you need to know about the Black Cats, check out SB Nation’s excellent Sunderland blog, Roker Report.
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