We must shoulder blame for sacking of the manager
JON McLaughlin says Sunderland’s players must shoulder the blame for Jack Ross’ dismissal, and has revealed the players found out about the club’s decision via reports on Twitter.
McLaughlin was one of three players away on international duty when news broke last Tuesday that Ross had been sacked by the Black Cats.
The rest of the squad were just hours away from a Checkatrade Trophy clash with Grimsby Town when they learned the news via Twitter.
McLaughlin revealed after keeping a clean sheet for Scotland against San Marino on Sunday night: “I found out the news on the team WhatsApp chat. The boys found out once it had happened on Twitter.
“I think that was a bit of a disappointment for a lot of the boys to find out in that manner, although that is maybe the way things are these days, with things getting out when a decision is made. Someone hears it and puts it online. But being away from the club when all this is going on is difficult.
“I liked Jack as a man and as a manager and I enjoyed playing for him. He did a lot for me, bringing me to Sunderland, and he had my full support.
“He saw me when I was at Hearts and liked what I was doing. It gave him the confidence to take me to this huge club. I owe Jack a great deal for that. Last season hopefully proved it was a good move for me and the club. But I feel very disappointed for Jack and I feel partly responsible along with the other players. I hope this is a small setback in his career and he can go on and show how good a manager he is.”
Chairman Stewart Donald made the decision to sack Ross following the defeat by Lincoln City prior to the international break.
The defeat left the club four points off automatic promotion, albeit with a game in hand. They’re also eight points adrift of pace-setters Ipswich Town.
More than just results and league standing, however, the decision was taken because of performances on the pitch, where many of the same issues from last season remained.
And McLaughlin admits they must improve to achieve their goal of promotion, but concedes League One sides are stronger than supporters might give them credit for.
“From the outside, the size of the club, it brings huge expectations and that is fair enough, it is football,” he said. “On the inside, you know how difficult a job it is. We stand on quite a level playing field with a lot of the teams in our division. It isn’t easy to breeze over teams or anything like that. Winning games is difficult in the league.
“We have had a lot of draws and that has been an issue for us last season and this one so far. If we had turned a few of them into wins then we would be flying, so it is small margins. We have plenty in the dressing room, more than enough to be right up at the top of the table.”