I CAN BE A TOUGH COOKIE
Coleman ready to boot out ‘uncommited’ stars
NEW Sunderland boss Chris Coleman has warned he will ship out players who are swinging the lead at the Stadium of Light.
The former Wales coach, who takes over a side rooted to the bottom of the Championship, promised to weed out the losers who have dragged the club down.
“This is not a place to be if you haven’t got heart,” said Coleman.
“At this club you need heart and you need courage.”
Sunderland have not won since mid-August and are four points from safety. But the 47-year-old former Fulham boss, who led Wales to the semi-finals of Euro 2016, went on: “There has been plenty of negativity here but this will probably be the biggest club I will ever manage.
“Everyone wants this club back in the Premier League.
“This a huge football club with 47,000 fans. They’re not all here at the minute but they are waiting for something to happen because they want to come back.”
And the Welshman, who would almost certainly have been linked with West Brom, who sacked Tony Pulis yesterday, added: “Somebody has to get it right sooner or later here. There are clubs in the Premier League that will get relegated and they are nowhere near the size of this.
“I would probably y have been linked with h one of those clubs but t there’s no guarantee I would have kept them m up. I was offered this s job and it was the one e that really excited me. .
“I have told the e players that I will not tolerate it if they are only pretending to give their best. I can’t handle that.
“I can handle a loss as long as everyone is giving all they’ve got.” It’s a tough baptism for Coleman tonight because high-flying Aston Villa have lost only one of their eight home h games in the Championship C this season. s
But the Midlanders have h injury problems.
Captain John Terry remains r on the sidelines s with a foot injury i and the attacking a quartet of Jonathan J Kodjia, Scott S Hogan, Gabby Agbonlahor A and Rushian HepburnMurphy are all out, w which means Keinan Davis will continue.
Aussie star Mile Jedinak wasn’ t considered for a starting role in the win at QPR at the weekend due to his hectic international schedule but could make his second Villa start of the season against Coleman’s side.