David Moyes resigned as Sunderland boss on Monday following the end of a miserable Premier League campaign.
Sunderland manager David Moyes looks dejected
David Moyes brought his time at the Stadium of Light to an end on Monday after what has been an awful campaign.
Relegation for Sunderland this season always seemed to be a case of when rather than if as they never looked like recovering from their poor form to escape the relegation places.
The Black Cats finished their campaign with a 5-1 thumping defeat to champions Chelsea, adding more misery to a season in which they have only won six games, losing 26.
Sunderland manager David Moyes
Moyes never truly looked like saving a this poor Sunderland side from the drop but Pat Nevin believes the manager was led to believe there was more for him than what was truly available.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Nevin said: “I think that difficult season had started before, he [Moyes] suggested the club was in a relegation battle, right at the start.
“I think to some degree he was sold a pup, and that, he was expecting more, and promised more money to build to expand that side, to expand the squad, to get a little bit more quality in and he didn’t have time to do it.”
David Moyes did invest in bolstering his squad ahead of the 2016/17 Premier League season, spending a collective £25 million on the signings of Didier Ndong from FC Lorient, Papy Djilobodji from Chelsea and Manchester United defenders Paddy McNair and Donald Love.
It could be argued that the Sunderland squad available to Moyes was in need of a much bigger investment in order to stave off any real relegation fears, as the club have flirted with relegation for a number of years, scraping over the line each time.
The 54-year-old spent similar amounts of money in the summer to nearest rivals Burnley (approximately £21m) and Middlesbrough (£28m) but it was the calibre of signings and their lack of impact that inevitably led to the disastrous campaign.
Pat Nevin added: “But then you get to the transfer window in January, and they expected a real push then, and no chance, the money wasn’t there.”
Alarm bells were ringing for Sunderland by the time the January transfer window came around, following a 4-1 Boxing Day defeat to Burnley.
Moyes brought in Bryan Oviedo and Darren Gibson from former club Everton, as well as signing Joleon Lescott on a free transfer from Manchester City.
Once again, as with his summer signings, these players failed to provide the spark to bring the Black Cats back to life and as the season wore on relegation became an inevitable end to a horrendous campaign.
Sunderland’s Jermain Defoe applauds fans after the match
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
