€2.3m Sunderland pay out for mighty Quinn

Niall Quinn received a £2million (€2.3m) payment when he stepped down at Sunderland Football Club last year, according to a new report into Premier League finances.

Accounts for the year to July 31, 2012 show that the Irish football legend was the club’s highest paid director – and one of the highest in the Premier League — with £2,432,702, £2m of which was in the form of compensation paid upon his resigning his position at the Stadium of Light in February of last year. Having put together the Drumaville consortium which oversaw the appointment of Roy Keane as manager and Sunderland’s return to the Premier League, Quinn ended a five-year stint as club chairman in October 2011 and was succeeded in that role by Elias Short.

Quinn then became the club’s Director of International Development but stepped down in 2012 to concentrate on his family and business interests.