When ownership of Sunderland switched to Ellis Short this week it brought to a close an unforgettable phase in the club’s recent history. Sports Writer Andy Richardson spoke to leading Drumaville consortium member Louis Fitzgerald.

IN spring 2006, Niall Quinn’s long-standing friendship with businessman Louis Fitzgerald resulted in the soon-to-be Sunderland chairman asking the man from County Tiperrary if he was interested in being part of a takeover at Sunderland.

After suffering relegation, with the then lowest ever Premier League points total, the club lacked morale and direction. But their fiercely loyal fanbase made them an attractive business proposition and, if the price was right, Fitzgerald and a number of his close associates in the Irish business community were interested.

“It was in a dreadful state before we took over,” revealed Fitzgerald. “There were a few ifs and buts in the early stages, mainly around how much we were being asked to pay for the club.

“Martin O’Neill was interested in coming to Sunderland as manager, so that made us very excited about agreeing the deal. But when Martin walked away we began to lose interest.

Michael Kennedy (Niall Quinn’s adviser) called me and said: ‘If you were buying a new hotel would you think about the business or the manager?’ “And he was right, we’d been putting the horse before the cart. So the consortium agreed to make a final offer and if it wasn’t accepted we’d have walked away.

But it was accepted.”

Many of the group expressed unease when the season began with Quinn juggling dual roles as both chairman and manager.

Despite losing their first five games of the season, Fitzgerald confirmed: “We never stopped believing in Niall but it was clear we needed a full-time manager.

Niall asked Roy Keane to join and, to our amazement, Roy said yes.”

Fitzgerald believed that Keane quitting the Republic of Ireland’s 2002 World Cup training camp – when Quinn attempted to play the role as peacemaker – was evidence the pair would struggle to work together.

“When you consider what went on in Saipan we were stunned that Niall and Roy could make a go of it, but they did and it proved very successful,’’ he said. “Niall is an incredible personality and he held things together.

“Roy coming on board meant we had to invest more than we’d originally planned – a lot more! But getting out of the Championship in the first year was a fairytale and well ahead of our original plan.

Once we came up it was all about staying in the Premiership and aiming for the top ten.”

Fitzgerald, pictured, admitted that Keane’s decision to quit last December “was a shock”

but insists he continues to hold the Corkman in high esteem.

“I’m not au fait with all that went on but I was sad to see him go.

He was clear he had no ill-feeling toward Drumaville and I sent him a good luck card when he joined Ipswich.

“I was part of the consortium from the beginning and I’ve known Niall’s family for donkey’s years through his father, who was a famous sportsman in Tiperrary. If it wasn’t for Niall none of this would have happened and no-one else could have made it work.

“I think Drumaville can look back on their time at Sunderland with pride when you consider the state they were in when we took over and how well they are set up now. Ellis Short has the finance to take Sunderland to a new level.

“I made a lot of friends on Wearside. I’m in the hospitality business and around 75 per cent of guests in my Dublin hotels are from UK.

We get visitors to our pubs from Durham, Teesside and Newcastle and they are superb people.”