On This Day (3rd October 2011): Niall Quinn resigns as Sunderland chairman!
Today at 01:00 AM
In what was a huge moment in the history of our football club, Niall Quinn resigned as Chairman and was replaced by Ellis Short 13 years ago.
Looking back, the day Niall Quinn stepped down as chairman of Sunderland AFC is likely to be reflected on negatively given the upheaval and turbulent nature of Ellis Short's reign in charge of the club.
Quinn arrived back in 2006 as a steady hand to help heal the wounded after a disappointing end to Bob Murray's time overseeing the football club.
The Irishman's knowledge, charm and genuine passion for the club ensured that fans felt like the trajectory of the club was going in a positive direction with him in charge but despite this, he decided to venture towards pastures new leaving Short to deal with the day to day running of the club.
The reason given was that Quinn was going to focus on the promotion of the football club throughout the globe to entice new investors and businesses towards the North East.
Quinn - who stated his belief that Short would be 'fantastic chairman' - outlined some of the travel he was about to take on with many places across the world such as Vietnam, India, Abu Dhabi and Africa all on the cards.
In his resignation letter, Quinn stated that he felt the club was in safe hands.
This is a great opportunity for us to make the club stronger and I'm delighted that Ellis has agreed to support the plan. He'll be a fantastic chairman and taking this role on speaks volumes about his ambition for the club.
Short also spoke of his delight in taking over and stressed the importance of continuing to promote the club to a global audience.
I can assure our fans that it's the same group of people continuing to lead the club.
With financial fair play rules coming into effect it is essential for the long-term success of the club that we develop interests on a global scale and there's no-one better than Niall to sell the ethos of Sunderland to an international audience.
He has been keen to drive this change for some time and I agree that it's the way forward for us now.
Assuming the position of chairman is a great honour and I will treat the role as guardian of this club with the utmost respect.
Unlike Quinn, Short's general understanding of running the football club was less certain and it became clear early doors that his approach to stability and consistency was far less patient in comparison to his predecessor.
After a brutal run of form, Steve Bruce was given the sack in mid-November only weeks after Short took over the running of the football club.
This would be the beginning of the managerial merry-go-round that engulfed this football club. When you reflect back, it can be considered whether the same decision would have been made with Niall Quinn in charge.
