This is what Sunderland are REALLY worth under Stewart Donald - according to an expert

Donald is seeking a buyer for the Black Cats having reiterated his desire to sell during a heated meeting with fan groups last week.

But a number of supporters baulked at the £37.6million asking price that the majority shareholder has slapped on the club – with club legends and financial experts calling on the Sunderland owner to rethink the price.

Indeed, even Michael Gray – who is looking to assemble a consortium to purchase the club – described the figures he had received from the Black Cats’ hierarchy as ‘astronomical’.

So what are Sunderland actually worth in the current market?

Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes that the Black Cats could be worth just a shade over half of Donald’s asking price – with an asking price of between £20million and £25million being viewed as ‘fair’.

Speaking on the Price of Football Podcast, he said: "I went and did my sums, I looked at some comparisons to other clubs and added on a little bit for Sunderland’s potential.

"If he got £20-25million, that would probably be fair.

“But you have to be wary of Sunderland – even when the club was in the Premier League, it was still losing money. You look at some of the payments that were going out of the club, and they got through three or four chief executives who were on huge sums of money and every time they left they got a huge pay-off as well.

"I do genuinely worry for the club. The way that the club has been run for a long period of time genuinely causes me concerns.

“You shouldn’t be losing that amount of money or going through that many managers and chief executives. There’s something toxic and ultimately the culture at the club is shaped by whoever is at the top.

“I just want whoever takes over to be that right person who has the best interests of the club at heart.”