It’s not nice being Sunderland manager. Everyone knows this.
You’re in charge of a club who are perpetually rubbish, with little financial support from your owner (the fittingly-named Ellis Short) despite the fact you’re in the money-stuffed Premier League, and your only hope is the 34-year-old somehow-still-good Jermain Defoe.
And also, you’re in Sunderland, a poor man’s Newcastle, which in itself is a poor man’s Liverpool. On Wearside, no-one can hear you scream.
The reality of being Sunderland manager is evidently getting to David Moyes, who slapped down a collection of sympathy cards in his Friday press conference earlier today.
The Scot lamented the lack of funds available for him to bring in more players, before claiming even if he could afford to bring in players, they wouldn’t make a difference.
[quote]“I’d be kidding you on if I said the players we’re hoping to bring in this month are going to make a big difference because, first of all, we probably couldn’t get that level of player and, secondly, we probably wouldn’t have the finances to do that.
“To suggest that a player we might bring in would be making a big difference would not be correct.”[/quote]
These are the quotes of a man who is slowly giving up hope. I mean, just look at the main picture. That is the haunted look of a football manager who has stared into the void and seen John O’Shea’s big face staring back at him, saying “I’ll always be your starting centre-back, David…I’ll always be here for you, David…of course I’ll mark Sergio Aguero for you, David, I used to play for Manchester United, David, I can do that”. Enough to turn a sane man mad.
Sunderland sit 19th in the Premier League, winless in four games and £140m in debt. Moyes did manage to scrape together £10m to put in a bid for Norwich’s Robbie Brady, but obviously, this was rejected.
Things have gotten so bad the former Manchester United boss – yes, that did happen – has invited talented five-head Joleon Lescott to train with the club. Lescott has been without a team since having his contract with AEK Athens terminated in November. Moyes isn’t so much scraping the barrel as gnawing through the bottom of it with his bare teeth.
Sunderland always beat the drop. It’s their thing. But we’re increasingly getting the feeling that this year, they might not be so lucky.
