Jim Rodwell opens up on landing Sunderland role, the brief set by Stewart Donald and potential club sale

Sunderland’s new CEO insists that the possible sale of the club does not affect his role and plans.
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Jim Rodwell’s appointment was confirmed last week and while the nationwide lockdown means he is not yet based on Wearside, he has begun work and is in regular dialogue with Stewart Donald and the board.

In a statement released last week, the club said that the appointment did not impact Donald’s intentions to find a new buyer.

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Donald told talkSPORT earlier this month that the ‘couple’ of interested parties were ‘pausing for breath’ in light of the COVID-19 crisis.

Jim Rodwell was confirmed as Sunderland's new CEO last weekJim Rodwell was confirmed as Sunderland's new CEO last week
Jim Rodwell was confirmed as Sunderland's new CEO last week

Rodwell’s primary focus will be improving the football operation at the club and he says any talks to sell the club will have no impact on his work in that regard.

“It doesn’t really change my position,” he said.

“If you have plenty of money and can hit a number, you could buy most football clubs.

“So that doesn’t overly concern me.

“If the right offer comes in and the owners think it is in the best interests of the club, that they are genuine, credible people, they will probably look to sell the club.

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“If new owners then wanted a new chief executive, c’est la vie.

“All I can do is come in and do the best job I possibly can because if we can get this football club in a better state, make it desirable and valuable, make people happier. If I’m doing a good job, then maybe the new owners would want to keep me on. Maybe they wouldn’t.

“I can’t spend time looking over my shoulder.

“My thought process is, let’s go and put some processes into the football club, make it more viable, make it sustainable, and most importantly, let’s support the manager and players to go and get promoted.

“The prospect of a sale doesn’t affect the job that I have been brought in to do.

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“Stewart and the owners have been very straightforward, they keep me in the loop with any developments and that’s all I can ask for.”

Rodwell had been CEO at Scunthorpe United for five years and it was his role as EFL director during that period that first brought him into contact with Donald and the Sunderland ownership.

Donald and Charlie Methven did not replace Martin Bain after his departure in the early stages of their tenure, believing it was not a necessary role given their hands-on approach to running the club.

Rodwell believes that view changed earlier this year, and says a series of presentations in which he outlined the ‘processes’ he believes can help improve the club were key to landing the role.

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“I’ve kind of known Stewart since he bought the football club,” he said.

“That’s where I first came across him as I was on the board of the EFL of the time. They were buying a League One club football club and I was the league’s representative at the time, so I knew him and had spoken to him over the phone.

“We spoke a few times on League One issues and I was at both of the finals last season.

“We started talking probably a little bit more seriously probably before Easter of this year.

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“Stewart called me about a couple of things and we got to talking, about potential sales and people at the table.

“Then just before Easter I think he decided he really wanted to get focused on the club and trying to run it probably in a more viable and sustainable way.

“I think he felt he needed someone up here every day to run the football club, add leadership, someone with a plan and their own thought processes as well.

“We had a bit of a process around that Easter period, we had a lot of conversations, I wrote some presentations that I presented virtually to get my thoughts and ideas across.

“Everything then came together quite quickly.

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“The board had a chat about it, I think they had spoken to some other candidates, and eventually they me offered the role, which was a very easy decision for me.

“I’d had other opportunities while at Scunthorpe, but Scunthorpe was good for me, the owners were great and let me get on with running the football club.

“I was also on the board of the EFL and the FA which took up time but it became evident to me that after Scunthorpe’s relegation that I needed a new challenge, they probably felt the same.

“I spoke to other clubs in that period, some in the Championship, but nothing got me quite as excited as Sunderland.”

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Despite the possible change of ownership on the horizon, Rodwell insists it is not his brief to prepare the club for a sale.

He does believe, however, that he can help make the club a better prospect for the years ahead.

“That’s not my brief at all,” he said.

“But it’s interesting when you look at what ‘prep for a sale’ actually means.

The way that I see that you prep Sunderland for a sale is to make it successful, make it more viable.

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“It’s more attractive as a viable business in the Championship, and it is even more attractive as a viable business in the Premier League.

“So if doing a good job and running the business effectively is prepping for a sale, then you could look at it that way.

“But my brief is to come here and do a good job, not to sell the club.

“The sale isn’t really something that I am preoccupied with, I’m more interested in doing a good job and instilling some leadership.”

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Rodwell says he understands the scepticism with which his appointment was met by many.

A statement from Scunthorpe chairman Peter Swann had said Rodwell’s brief at Glanford Park was to secure Championship football and a new stadium.

Rodwell says their current position does not fully reflect his time at the club, but says he will have to prove himself to supporters on Wearside.

“I’m grown up enough to know that when I was appointed chief exective of Sunderland, you’re not going to have people doing cartwheels across the Wearmouth Bridge,” he said.

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“Having said that, would fans ever react that way over a chief executive appointment?

“You work from the position that when you come in, people are going to be sceptical – which is the most elegant way of putting it.

“You almost have to change people’s perception of you, which can be hard, but I just have to come in and do a good job.

“People will look at my time at Scunthorpe, but we constantly punched above our weight for three years and then had one bad season and got relegated.

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“As for the stadium, there are a million and one reasons why we didn’t get to build a new stadium but where we did get to is a situation where Scunthorpe have got planning permission to build a brand new stadium and that is no mean feat.

“The Swanns are good people, they don’t mean that in any kind of malicious way.

“All you can ultimately be judged on is the job that you’ve done and I accept that totally.

“I’m confident in my own ability, I’ve been given an absolutely wonderful opportunity – the opportunity of a lifetime, really – and it’s up to me to make the most of it, it’s as simple as that.”

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