The Black Cats former captain says “99%” of the squad didn’t want cameras there as they filmed “Sunderland til I Die”.
Former Sunderland captain John O’Shea has hit out at the Netflix documentary chronicling the side’s dismal 2017-18 campaign, claiming that “99%” of the club’s players did not want a film crew to cover their struggles.
“Sunderland til I Die” was released globally before Christmas and has received widespread praise for its account of what turned out to be arguably the worst season in the Black Cats’ history, in which they suffered a second successive relegation.
The Wearsiders finished bottom of the Championship during the season amid financial troubles but, since then, they have slowly picked themselves up since their takeover by a consortium led by Stewart Donald, which also features in the Netflix documentary.
At present, Sunderland sit third League One, three points off the automatic promotion places and with a game in hand on the top two, and are unbeaten in all competitions in 2019, while O’Shea left the Stadium of Light in the summer to join Reading on a free transfer.
“I have not watched all of it. I’ve lived through it so why would I need to watch it again?” O’Shea told BBC Sport. “From my point of view and I’d say 99% of the players, we didn’t want it to happen. It’s one of those things. You go in in the morning, go in for a little bit of treatment and you realise there’s little mini cameras dotted around.”
Following O’Shea’s comments about the Netflix documentary, some Sunderland fans took to Twitter and shared their thoughts, with some not taking too kindly to what their former skipper had to say:
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