Gus Poyet comments on Sunderland

Follow us on Google Discover

Sunderland have gradually declined since Gus Poyet was sacked in 2015.

Gus Poyet has told The Daily Mail that there is something inherently wrong with Sunderland as a club, criticising former chairman Niall Quinn in the process.

It has been two-and-a-half years since the Uruguayan was sacked by Sunderland and Chris Coleman this week became the fifth manager to be appointed since that.

The Black Cats were finally relegated under David Moyes last season but it would be miraculous for them to bounce straight back to the Premier League, with the Wearsiders sitting rock bottom of the Championship after Simon Grayson struggled to get the best out of them since taking the job in June.

Relegation had been on the cards for a while, back before Poyet was in charge, but the 50-year-old managed to stave off that threat in fairytale fashion in 2014 by masterminding four wins from their last six Premier League games during the 2013-14 campaign, including victories over Manchester United and Chelsea.

But Poyet reveals that he knew something was very wrong at the core level within Sunderland, but claims that club owner Ellis Short is not responsible for the perceived rotting.

“I told you five years ago. There is something wrong inside Sunderland, I felt that when I was there,” he told The Daily Mail. “It was not logical that so many people can go through a club and things always finish badly. Apparently for them to realise, they need to be in the situation now.

‘That is sad because if you listen to people who care, they are telling you, “If you don’t change things inside the core of the club, this is going nowhere””.

“Niall Quinn described it as ‘gremlins’ when he was in charge. But when I said there is something wrong, he criticised me. It’s like, “Hello-o-o! Mr Quinn?” When it suits you, it is gremlins.

“Ellis Short is not responsible. He is a good chairman. He has been learning and had to rely on football people. Sunderland has something unique inside the club, at its core, that hasn’t changed for years.”

Coleman lost his first game in charge as the Black Cats went down 2-1 at Aston Villa on Tuesday, leaving them four points adrift of safety and 17 behind the playoff spots.