Charlie Methven has claimed that William Storey made his life a lot harder during his time at Sunderland.
In an interview with the Sunderland Echo, the former Black Cats part-owner admitted that Storey’s direct approach to fans had an impact on the Madrox Group’s success on Wearside.
Charlie Methven and Stewart Donald spearheaded a consortium takeover of Sunderland back in April 2018, following their relegation to League One.
Despite excitement that the club were finally seeing the back of Ellis Short, the positivity around Wearside was quickly dampened by another disastrous ownership.
It was only 19 months later that Donald announced the club was up for sale following backlash from fans, before Sunderland was sold to Kyril Louis-Dreyfus in December 2020.
Donald and Methven left the club with a majority of the fanbase very critical of them, the latter in particular.
However, the 47-year-old has looked to shift the blame onto William Storey, who had tried to purchase the football club from them three years ago.
Methven said: “That direct approach to the fanbase caused us some issues because when somebody comes along and says it is feasible, possible and should be done to sign a bunch of Premier League players to a League One club, it makes life quite difficult for the current incumbent who knows that it is a total impossibility, but you’re lacking a counter-factual so you can’t prove that it is an impossibility.
“In the meantime, we were already in discussions with a very credible owner, the former owners of Marseille, the Louis-Dreyfus family. While perhaps not having William Storey’s extravagant views on the valuation of the club, we were pretty sure they would have the money and were going to pass the EFL test. We progressed with that deal and eventually ended up having a bit of a giggle with the whole Storey episode.
“When you’re in the middle of it, it can be a very time-consuming exercise because you have journalists and fan groups calling you all the time asking about this very extrovert figure and why you’re not accepting his offer. That can be a tricky thing to deal with and take up a lot of time.”
A worry for Reading, a relief for Sunderland
Storey, whose claims to the Black Cats never really seemed to add up, has now reportedly agreed a deal to buy Reading – a potential move to which Sunderland fans have warned the Royals’ supporters about.
The 45-year-old is leading a consortium set to buy the club for up to £50m after failing in bids to purchase Sunderland and Coventry City.
Storey definitely doesn’t seem a very reliable figure in the football world, and definitely not one that can help a club that are already in deep financial turmoil.
It’s hard not to feel sorry for Reading in this position, but also extremely relieved that Storey’s pursuit of the Black Cats never got that far.