William Storey, the owner of Rich Energy Drinks, has pictured himself at the Stadium of Light this afternoon as takeover talks seem to heat up.
Storey is a controversial character likely to divide opinion should he take over at the Black Cats and his picture today has been met with a mixed response. Wearing a Sunderland shirt, Storey stands outside the ground with his arms crossed in the warm sunshine, saying ‘Having a great day in #Sunderland‘.
The picture comes as current owner Stewart Donald looks to sell the club, with Storey seemingly interested in becoming the latest incumbent of the chairman’s role at the League One side. Donald wants around £37m for the club he bought two seasons ago, and Storey has already committed to putting £50m in should his takeover succeed.
Whilst it looks great on paper, fans do have reservations about their potential new owner. Storey’s involvement with Formula One team Haas ended badly when a sponsorship deal thought to be worth around $60million per season collapsed last year. It looked set to be a lucrative deal for the team, but only six months into the deal Rich Energy tweeted claiming that they had pulled out. Oddly, the social media output was blamed on an errant employee, until Haas later confirmed the deal had been terminated. Rich Energy later claimed that they had pulled out due to Haas’ ‘poor performance’ and the ‘politics and PC attitude’ involved with Formula One.
Today’s developments are cryptic, there are no details as to whether he’s in the area for talks, or just for a visit, but it has got fans talking on social media as you’ll see below.
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https://twitter.com/Sunder_LAD/status/1293525139045449728
Any reason in particular as to why you’re at the SoL?
— SAFC North Yorkshire (@SAFC_NYorkshire) August 12, 2020
William a lot of fans are sceptical because the current owners have lost the trust of the fans if you take over and your consortium can get us back where we belong and compete in the Premier league then you will see how big our club really is and you would need to expand the sol
— Tony⚽️🔴⚪🔴⚪🎨🍻 (@tonytsafc75) August 12, 2020
Can you say if you’re visit today is directly associated with your takeover bid? Or is this simply a visit to the area?
— Michael🔶 (@mgsmith95) August 12, 2020
https://twitter.com/AlanBsafc/status/1293521439304417280
Ha'way then Will (Bill?)? What's the score with this bid? Are you genuinely the man to take us forward or just another wide boy that will ultimately take the piss out of us? I know you'll want to make money, I get that, but if #safc are successful I guess the riches go with it.
— Dave Palmer (@DaveyPalmer1) August 12, 2020
https://twitter.com/DavidHindmarsh7/status/1293523478029762567
https://twitter.com/BenjibooV/status/1293532902630871041
