Sunderland's painful ownership saga enters an endgame - but it could yet be a long and frustrating one for fed-up fans

The problem for supporters is that it could be drawn out, frustrating and with no guarantee of a satisfactory solution.

Though it requires a fair amount of deduction and reading between the lines, we now have a reasonable idea of where the three main parties stand on what they would like to happen next.

After the widespread anger that followed revelations that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus only owned 41% of the club’s shareholding, Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven both publicly stated that they would be prepared to sell the remainder of their stake.

In the days before Louis-Dreyfus’ meeting with the supporter collective, they went a step further.

Donald spoke of his desire to return to Eastleigh, while Methven named their price at £11.7 million.

It was, undoubtedly, a targeted attempt to raise the pressure on Louis-Dreyfus. The pair know that there is an overwhelming desire on Wearside for their departure, and it appears that they hope that could in fact be leverage to get a significant price from the current Chairman.

In his meeting with the supporter collective, Louis-Dreyfus confirmed that he had held talks with Donald with regards to acquiring his stake but that as of yet, a deal had not been agreed.

Tellingly, he added: “If a credible buyer with sizeable funds capable of passing the EFL’s Owners’ & Directors Test and who agrees with the vision of the club, wishes to buy shares in the club, KLD would be happy for another party to invest, but will not relinquish control.”

Louis-Dreyfus had initially tried to take a greater shareholding when he first arrived on Wearside, and has made attempts to do so since.

Clearly, there is a difference in valuation and in referencing the prospect of third-party investment he has laid the gauntlet back down to Donald and Methven: If you can find someone to meet your asking price who will align with my vision and maintain my controlling stake, no problem.

There will be some frustration at this impasse and understandably so; while Louis-Dreyfus has day-to-day control it has been clear over the past few months that the club needs a cleaner and more definitive break with Madrox to move forward, both in terms of club unity and in the efficiency of decision making.

There is no doubt in moving to seize a more significant stake, Louis-Dreyfus could go someway to lighting the blue touch paper on his tenure.

Yet Louis-Dreyfus’ position is also an eminently understandable one.

For one, a by no means insignificant amount of the parachute payments used to part-fund the purchase of the club from Ellis Short are still in the process of being paid back by Donald and Methven.

How that issue would be settled needs to be taken into account when any deal is struck, while Louis-Dreyfus is entitled to take the view that he should not overpay.

If naming the price publicly was to a degree an attempt to force Louis-Dreyfus hand, it may to an extent have had the opposite effect.

Fans can see that is an ambitious valuation and they perhaps understand Louis-Dreyfus’ position a little better now.

The meeting also underlined that at least in the eyes of those at Sunderland, Juan Sartori is being viewed in the longer term as an ally of Louis-Dreyfus.

Louis-Dreyfus confirmed that the Uruguayan is ‘committed to the club’, and there has clearly been no discussion regarding a possible sale of his shares.

Sartori’s presence will understandably raise eyebrows given his association with Donald and Methven, and the numerous times fans were told by the pair he was integral to the future with little substance to follow.

What we can surmise all the same is that Louis-Dreyfus sees it is a realistic and desirable end goal to buy out Donald and Methven, and run the club with a level of input from Sartori.

The issue, as he will no doubt understand, is that the pair will be happy to play the long game because if Louis-Dreyfus can find a way to achieve success on the pitch then the value of those shares will grow significantly.

One of the most crucial aspects of last night’s meeting was the confirmation that there is no agreed price or automatic trigger for Louis-Dreyfus to increase his shareholding.

It’s why he no doubt feels he has to be measured in his public comments, knowing the need to maintain some semblance of unity and common purpose even if his desire to reach an agreement on the sale of those shares is clear.

It’s a difficult balancing act, though it is of course one of his own making after initially accepting that 41% deal.

His gambit then was that the club needed action and it needed it quickly, and so finding a compromise in those protracted and difficult talks was key.

The issue is that there was always a risk of an impasse such as this one, when everyone’s end goal is clear but the path to get there looks long and arduous.

And with Sunderland at arguably their lowest ebb, that is sad and it is incredibly frustrating and it’s worth taking a moment to state that clearly.

Sunderland needs a resolution, it needs Madrox to depart, to unlock the potential that it has. In the interim, the best scenario is an uneasy truce.

It makes Louis-Dreyfus communicating directly with supporters imperative, and though long overdue his meeting was welcome. So, too, was his recognition that he had ‘misjudged the sensitivity of the issue’ with regards to Madrox and his shareholding.

It’s a start, but he still has much to do to recover much of the trust lost in recent weeks and months.

All the while, fans will wonder when this protracted saga will end, giving them hope of a significantly brighter future.

The minutes from the meeting are available in full here

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