William Storey, the founder of the soft drinks firm Rich Energy, claims he is leading a consortium that has made a bid to buy League One Sunderland from the owner Stewart Donald.
Storey used Twitter to announce a bid that is the subject of considerable scepticism in and around the Stadium of Light, explaining that he could not say too much because he had signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).
“I have significant funding from blue chip backers. Sunderland are a giant of English football & their fans deserve a team to reflect that stature. #SunderlandAFC,” he added in a social media post that imposed an image of his company logo on an outdated Sunderland kit.
Donald has wanted to sell Sunderland for some time and has set an asking price of £37.6m for a club with a near 50,000-capacity stadium which was in the Premier League as recently as 2017.
Sunderland could not immediately be reached for comment.
Rich Energy made an offer to save the Force India Formula One team from administration in 2018 but its attempt was rejected. Storey’s company subsequently entered a sponsorship agreement with the Haas F1 team but terminated that contract early. Haas said they had “amicably agreed to end their partnership”.