Sunderland owner Ellis Short has eyes on top ten finish

May 29 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

ELLIS Short has indicated he has no desire to be a ‘hands-on’ owner at Sunderland despite clinching a deal to become the Black Cats’ majority shareholder.

In his first public statements since completing his takeover of the Wearside club, the Dallas-based billionaire signalled his desire to rein in soaring expectations by targeting a season without relegation troubles next season – despite the injection of significant transfer funds this summer. A top-10 finish will be sought, Short said, but he cannot promise anything.

He also said that he is happy for chairman Niall Quinn to continue handling day-to-day club affairs while he provides investment and works on the financial side of Sunderland affairs.

That will be music to the ears of Black Cats fans, who have been promised a “bright future” and a club capable of “making big moves” in the transfer market this season.

“I’m relieved (that Sunderland stayed up). This club has a lot of reasons to stay up, we’ve got a lot of good plans for the future and relegation would have been horrible, so I’m relieved and happy,” said Short.

“I don’t want to promise too much. I became involved last summer to get this team into a place where we can try to finish in the top 10 next year. I don’t ever want to go through a relegation battle again and I don’t want the fans to have to go through it.

“What we will genuinely be trying to do with the things that Niall does this summer is to be able to finish in the top 10. And in the longer term we just want to continue to improve and always run things well.