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With Sunderland’s summer transfer dealings coming under fire from fans, chief executive Martin Bain has moved to answer some of the key questions raised by supporters.

The Black Cats’ tiny transfer spend of £1.5m this summer stands in stark contrast to the £33m raised by the sale of Jordan Pickford and Vito Mannone, and with the club having also received a parachute payment of around £45m following relegation from the Premier League, fans are understandably asking where the money has gone.

In a frank and honest interview with ChronicleLive, Bain addressed the main questions that fans want answered - and shed new light on Sunderland’s financial situation, revealing that owner Ellis Short continues to fund the club to the tune of millions of pounds each year.

Bain said: “I’m a football fan and I understand that supporters look at the money they know is coming in, and the money they see going out, and wonder what happened to the difference.

“I recognise that we have sold players for a large amount of money and our spend is not commensurate with that.

“The truth is that every penny of the £33m that we received for Jordan Pickford and Vito Mannone has gone into the running of the club.

“Fans have not seen that money paid out on new players this summer, and the reason is that the money was already accounted for, primarily because of significant payments due this summer for players signed in previous seasons.

“Added to this, the club was obliged to pay £10m for Ricky Alvarez due to a deal that was done in 2014.

“That was the situation that the club was in.”

(Image: Sunderland AFC)

Many Sunderland fans have questioned the benefit of allowing players such as Jeremain Lens, Fabio Borini, to leave on loan, fearing that the club is still paying a proportion of their wages and that they might return to Wearside next summer.

But Bain said: “The wages of all of the players who have gone on loan are being paid in full by the clubs they have joined.

“And the loan deals for Borini and Lens contain appearance clauses set at a level which will see them converted to permanent moves.

“Letting players leave, initially on loan, who weren’t part of the plans moving forward also allowed us to generate funds for a certain transfer spend ourselves, by removing them from the wage bill.”

He added: “Then when it came to bringing players in, we wanted the right type of player and hunger and desire were two words which featured high on our list.

“Whether players have signed full-time contracts or on loan, they have come here with a lot to prove.

“The younger ones have come in and will have an opportunity to play, and show their parent clubs that they have something to offer.

“The slightly older ones who have joined on loan weren’t getting games for their parent clubs, so they have come to show their desire and hunger for success.

“And then we’ve brought in players who represent value for money – Aiden McGeady as a case in point.”

(Image: Sunderland AFC)

In the wake of relegation, Bain oversaw major changes on Wearside with Simon Grayson and his backroom staff brought into the club, along with a large turnover of playing staff.

Pickford and Mannone were among 15 players to leave the club over the summer, including players released at the end of their contracts, on-loan players returning to their clubs, outgoing transfers, and loans, while ten players arrived.

And while Sunderland’s small budget was dictated by the club’s finances, Bain says he has worked to ensure that the deals entered into on his watch will be affordable to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

He said: “A lot of the legacy transfer fees that we are paying at the moment are impacting on the football club, handcuffing us in terms of our ability to do certain things.

“Going forward, I don’t want to structure deals to include exit clauses that allow players to leave for free.

“So when we structure transfers and spread payments – which is normal in football – we have to make sure they will be affordable in future years.

“It’s not too dramatic, but it is a little bit more conservative if I can put it that way.”

Another pressing issue for fans is the fate of the £45m parachute payment.

“The parachute payment has also gone into the running of the club,” said Bain.

“The income drop that comes as a consequence of relegation is substantial - even taking the parachute payment into account, it is in excess of 50 per cent.

“We have had to cut costs at the club, with the biggest saving coming as a result of the 40 per cent pay cut the players took in the wake of relegation, which has helped reduce the wage bill from more than £80m two seasons ago, although it is still a fairly high wage bill for a club in the Championship.”

The Chronicle understands the club’s wage bill will be closer to £30m this season, a significant reduction from the £83m shown in the club’s latest accounts which covered the 2015-16 season.

Bain arrived at Sunderland in July last year at a point when those accounts showed the club also had debts of £110m, and made a loss of £33m during the 2015-16 campaign, having escaped relegation from the Premier League under Sam Allardyce.

Short had belatedly recognised that the club’s situation was unsustainable and appointed Bain with a brief to guide the club to financial stability.

Last season’s relegation has made Bain’s task considerably more difficult, but he says progress has been made.

“The situation as it was when I arrived was not sustainable,” he said.

“Ellis Short has been signing eight-figure cheques to fund the club’s losses and keep the club running - and he will continue to do that - but in the longer term he wants to fund growth, not losses.

“That’s why he brought me in to work towards putting the club on a path towards financial stability and we have made inroads into that.

“It is a long process - it can’t be done in 12 months - but we have made a start.”