Charlie Methven takes aim at Sunderland supporter group in latest bizarre podcast comments
Charlie Methven has discussed Sunderland, Oxford United and Charlton Athletic supporters’ groups during a podcast appearance
Former Sunderland executive Charlie Methven has taken a bizarre swipe at a Black Cats fan group during a podcast appearance.
Methven was part of the ownership group that took control of Sunderland in 2018, along with Stewart Donald and Juan Sartori, after the club’s second successive relegation. Their takeover was heavily featured in the Netflix documentary Sunderland ’Til I Die, with Methven initially appointed as executive director.
His time at the club was eventful and often controversial. Methven was credited in some quarters with helping Sunderland drive commercial and marketing growth during the League One years, including a period of record third-tier attendances and strong revenues. However, he also clashed with supporters on several occasions.
In 2018, he described some fans watching illegal streams in pubs near the stadium as “parasites”, a term he later admitted was “ill-chosen”. He also expressed ‘regret' for controversial comments made at a meeting with Sunderland supporter groups before eventually stepping down from Sunderland’s board in December 2019.
Methven has now discussed the role of supporters’ trusts during an appearance on the Where’s The Money Gone? podcast, where he compared his experiences at Oxford United, Sunderland and Charlton Athletic. The Red and White Army Supporters’ Trust is an independent, democratic and inclusive supporters’ group which aims to represent its members and reflect the views of Sunderland fans through structured meetings with decision-makers at the club.
The Echo has launched a new WhatsApp SAFC Channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates direct to your phone. Simply click this link to join our SAFC WhatsApp channel.
Methven began by saying he was a supporter of the trust movement, having previously been involved at Oxford United. He said: “I'm a big supporter of the Supporters' Trust movement. I was a founding committee member of the Oxford United Supporters' Trust in the late 1990s after the death of Maxwell had led to a series of problems within the club, and there aren't many clubs who have been through such problems that Oxford have been through.
“You know, we spoke about Brighton just about not going out of the Football League; Oxford did go out of the Football League. I think the first clubs to have won a major trophy since the Second World War to go out of the Football League. And so I've been through this whole thing, and I'm a great supporter of the idea that supporters themselves organise and get themselves together and demonstrate that they are, and this is what we had to do, demonstrate that they are worthy of playing an active part in the running of the club.
“Now, whether that be through buying it or through being an influence on ownership. I think in the intervening 15, 20 years I've been running football clubs, I've come across different types of Supporters' Trust. Obviously, in Oxford, there were people who I knew very well because there were people who I'd previously been on the Trust with, and they were, you know, very much, as you say, a constructive and candid friend.
“At Sunderland, it acted more like a sort of pressure group to just spend more money, which I don't think is a useful or helpful exercise. And then at Charlton, much more forensic, much more, you know, a lot of people on the supporters' trust come from professional backgrounds, accountants and lawyers, and these types of things, who are much more capable of sitting down for two hours and really trying to get to grips and understanding, what are you doing? How does that affect us? Is there anything we can do to help? Which they do.
“So, I think when a supporters' trust is done right, I think it can be a really great thing for a club. But when it becomes just a group of people who want to moan about why isn't the club spending more, why isn't the club giving fans more free things, why don't our ticket prices keep on getting cheaper, so on and so forth, I don't think that's a Supporters' Trust. I think that is a supporter group or a supporter club, and a distinction should be drawn; I would like to see the Football Supporters' Association be a lot more dogmatic about what it means to be a trust.
“And if they see in a certain trust certain behaviours, say, in that case, you're no longer really a supporters' trust, you are now a supporter group, and we will not be supporting you because of what you seem to be calling for, which is not part of what we think this is all about. So, I'm a huge believer in it, I wish that more was made of it, I think it should be compulsory really for every club to have a supporters' trust, but it's difficult to do that because ultimately it does come down to the supporters themselves, and if supporters don't want to have one, then it's difficult to make them have one.”
Despite Methven’s latest comments on the group, RAWA continues to serve an important purpose for Sunderland supporters, providing a structured route for fans to raise issues with the club on matters such as ticketing, matchday experience and wider fan engagement issues.
More recently, the group has raised concerns around season ticket renewals and individual supporter cases, with Sunderland subsequently moving to review some of those situations and contact fans directly. That kind of dialogue has proven important over the years, particularly at a time when the club is growing quickly on and off the pitch and decisions around pricing, access and supporter experience carry real significance.