Four days to get it all right

“It was a day when anything that could go wrong, did go wrong.”

Simon Grayson’s words about the performance on the pitch could be extended to include the events off it.

You would have to look long and hard to find any crumbs of comfort on what should have been a day of celebration for the Black Cats.

The 5-0 drubbing, the trouble which saw 21 arrests and, to cap it all, the uncomfortable video of Darron Gibson and his even more uncomfortable words.

There’s nothing Grayson could have done about the bother involving fans, but he’s going to have his work cut out dealing with the fall-out from the performance on the pitch and the comments made by midfielder Gibson off it.

With the kick off for what is going to be a make or break season for the club and the new manager only days away, could there be any worse preparation?

Welcome to Sunderland Simon!

If there’s a hard way to do things, the Black Cats usually seek it out and take that route.

If you’re a glass half empty fan, this is nothing short of a disaster.

If you’re a glass half full, as we at the Echo always strive to be, then maybe this is wake up call the players and manager need.

Certainly Grayson has seen this as what he calls an “eye opener” and he’s not far wrong.

He is in the best position to put this right and perhaps having any discontent on and off the pitch out in the open can only be a good thing.

There’s now no hiding place - it’s time to get it sorted.

The day when ‘anything that could go wrong, did go wrong’ has passed. He’s got four days to get things right.