Kirchhoff admits he never saw eye to eye with Moyes & his views
quality wasn’t as high as the season before.
“Personally, I never refound my self-confidence. My position changed, my teammateschangedaroundmeand it didn’t feel like it was before.
“It wasn’t any one specific fault. Football is like a big puzzle and the pieces have to fit.”
He added: “The surroundings around the club turned quite negative.
“Our manager said quite early on in the season that it was going to be hard for us to stay in the league. It felt like a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“I think the fans felt the same.
“We’d all been waiting for the moment. It wasn’t one game that broke our neck.
“In the dressing room, heads were down. I remember people almost crying, staring.
It’s hard. You don’t know what to do. It was the worst case for Premier League footballers.
“Other things come in, too. Youknowpeoplewilllosetheir jobsattheclub.Youjustwantto get away from it.”
Kirchhoffleftfollowingrelegation to the Championship.
“I’d made the decision earlier: I don’t want to work under these circumstances, with this manager. I felt like it was over;nottheplaceforme,Ijust didn’t feel well.
“It wasn’t right, the way we played football. I didn’t get on with David Moyes. The system he wanted to play, I didn’t understand really.
“I didn’t understand his views of football and he didn’t understand mine.”
Despite the relegation, Kirchhoff speaks highly of the club, describing it as “really familiar, friendly” “I felt welcome and part of a great club” and he hopes one day soon the Black Cats will climb back up the league pyramid.
He added: “I personally felt thebestinthathalf-yearunder Sam,soIhavereallystrongfeelingsfortheclub.Ihopeitsomehow brings back its energy.
“Today? I feel sorry almost. I don’t know if that’s the right word.”