SUNDERLAND BOSS ‘SURPRISED’ BY SLAP FURORE

DAVID MOYES says he has been ‘surprised’ by the reaction to his threat to slap a female reporter. The Sunderland boss is under mounting pressure having been widely condemned for his comments made to BBC interviewer Vicki Sparks and is set to be hit with an FA charge. But Moyes, whose side were beaten at Leicester last night to leave them eight points from safety at the bottom of the Premier League, said: ‘I’ve been surprised (by the reaction) in many ways, but I’ve done my job with the players. ‘The world of football is a great business now. It employs an incredible amount of people, be it through the media or training grounds. And for that reason football is a big talking point.’ Goals from Islam Slimani and Jamie Vardy piled the pressure on Moyes and home fans taunted him by singing ‘you’re getting slapped in the morning’. The Scot admits the Black Cats now need a miracle to survive. ‘I really believed that to give us a real chance we needed to win one of these two away games (they were beaten at Watford on Saturday),’ he said. ‘What I didn’t put down was a win against a Manchester United or an Arsenal or a Chelsea in my remaining fixtures. I now have to win at least one of those.’ The Scot says that he never felt his job was in danger following his comments to a TV reporter that she might ‘get a slap’. Moyes has apologised for what he said to Sparks after an interview following a draw with Burnley in March. Sunderland are standing by the Scot, who has been asked to give his observations on the incident by the FA. ‘It’s really good to have the support and I’m really grateful to them,’ said Moyes. ‘I felt I had made my apology, there had been no complaint from Vicki Sparks, and because of that, everything was fine.’ He also said it was his idea to offer an apology, adding: ‘As I said at the time, I regret my words.’ Sunderland’s statement said the club regarded the exchange as ‘wholly unacceptable and such actions are not condoned or excused in any way’. It added: ‘David recognised this immediately, proactively bringing the matter to the attention of the CEO (Martin Bain) and apologising to the reporter.’ Slimani and Vardy scored last night to virtually guarantee the champions’ own survival and cap a few days to forget for the Black Cats boss. Of his team’s performance, Moyes said: ‘I’m really disappointed we didn’t get something out of the game. We’ll keep going again — it’s still in our hands to stay up.’