Ellis Short will watch the Checkatrade Trophy Final from the royal box at Wembley after accepting an invite from Sunderland owner Stewart Donald .
The Black Cats will play Portsmouth in the capital on Sunday as they look to win a cup competition for the first time since that famous FA Cup victory in 1973.
More than 40,000 Sunderland fans will be there to see it and they may well be surprised to discover that Short, the club's former owner, will also be there come 3pm.
Indeed, Donald has revealed Short planned to attend even before he was invited to sit with his party in the royal box.
"He phoned the club and ordered two seats and I'd heard he got the seats and he didn't think it was appropriate that he came in the royal box so I messaged him and said, 'I thought it was appropriate'. I would very much like him to come in the royal box with us," Donald told BBC Newcastle.
"On my dealings with him, and how he is, I know that he's got a huge passion for Sunderland and although it didn't finish well for him, he's done a massive amount for the football club and spent an awful lot of money and it just feels right that he's there so I'm pleased to say he will be in the royal box and he's accepted my invite. I'm delighted he will be there because I think it will be great to see him."
Short wiped out the club's existing debt to sell the club to Donald last year and while Sunderland's current owner still had to take on big contracts, there is just one final £4m legacy payment to be paid in August.
Some Sunderland fans did not hold back in their criticism of Short for scaling back spending in his final two years at the club but Donald has sympathy with his predecessor.
"I think the biggest single thing is he didn't probably have people in situ, culturally, ultimately, spent the money like it was his," he added.
"If you're going to write a cheque, you need people to care as much about that as you and if you just keep writing cheques - and people think the money can just keep coming and coming and coming - then ultimately when it doesn't go right, you turn the tap off because you just see money draining out and know the football wasn't getting better and the money was getting spent. I think he just thought, 'I can't do this.'"
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