Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
CHOKER FOR MOYES
Boss admits ‘it’s my worst day in football’ as Black Cats are relegated
DAVID MOYES said Sunderland’s relegation was his “worst day in football” after the Wearsiders plunged into the Championship.
A late winner from Bournemouth striker Josh King condemned the Black Cats to the drop at the Stadium of Light.
And Moyes revealed even getting the sack from Manchester United three years ago was not as painful as sliding out of the Premier League.
“This is my worst day in football, yes. But now is not the time to speak about me. My emotions are more thinking about the people of this area.
“They are the ones who I feel for today so I’ll wait, gather my thoughts over the next week or two and then we can speak about it,” said Moyes.
“It’s easy to say the plan is to get back as quickly as we can but again that’s a conversation for another day. Let’s wait and see.”
But, despite the pain and disappointment, Moyes is adamant he wants the chance to take Sunderland from the Championship back to the Premier League next season.
“I’d like to bounce back with them. The job is to make sure we try to get ourselves prepared and ready but it’s difficult to talk about it right now because it’s just too soon.
“This is not the time to try to make snap reasons why this has happened, but I’d like to make sure we get Sunderland back in the Premier League, that’s for sure.
“I’ve managed in the Championship before but now is not the time to talk about that. I’m more concerned for the people who follow this club, they are all disappointed just as we are.
“This has been a frustrating manager’s chair for many managers and I’m just frustrated today we couldn’t get the result we wanted.”
Despite seeing his stars suffer 23 top-flight defeats, winning only five of their games so far, Moyes refused to point the finger of blame at individuals.
And he insisted he couldn’t have asked much more from his shattered stars. Moyes said: “The players played as well as they could and there is no criticism of the players, of their effort and commitment.
“It’s not any one person, it’s a collective thing here and I don’t think any one person is bigger than a club
anyway. From top to bottom we all need to look at ourselves. They fought right until the end to get a result today.
“I’ve said near enough from the start I know what a Premier League team and squad looks like and I’ve felt we have been short of a bit of quality to make that difference.
“The performance won’t get any headlines because the performance in a way doesn’t matter. It’s the result and what has happened to us.
“But we have had four or five decent opportunities and played well. We had nine out injured, one suspended and we had to change things.”
Skipper John O’Shea said: “We had enough chances to take the lead and we were pushing at the end to get that goal. But then they killed us with the breakaway goal.
“You see the appreciation from the fans but you understand the disappointment.
“We never got the momentum. We haven’t got that win at the vital times to put other teams under pressure.
“Sunderland have been here a good few years now and the attitude will always be the togetherness of a family club. There’s going to be changes in the summer. I’ve never been in this situation before in my career.
“It’s obviously disappointing but it’s a chance for the club to take stock of everything and bounce back and give the fans what they want, Premier League football.”