Moyes out to avoid relegation scraps
New Sunderland boss David Moyes believes there are foundations for him to build on after Sam Allardyce successfully kept the club in the Premier League last season.
But he says the Wearsiders’ aim has to be to end the annual pattern of relegation battles.
Moyes, appointed as manager on Saturday, told the club website: “It reminds me a lot of when I took over at Everton.
“The club was bobbing along the bottom.
“What we need to do at Sunderland is move up. We need to do what we did at Everton. We need to try and get right up the table and be more near the top end at the end of it.
“Sam did a great job in keeping the club up last season, but we have to get away from being that sort of team.
“That will be the biggest challenge for me.”
Moyes says he has been given “guarantees” from chairman Ellis Short over boosting his squad, with Sunderland yet to make any new signings – 19 days from the start of the Premier League campaign.
The Scot has had a chance to consider potential captures over the last fortnight, while England were completing their lengthy search for a new boss, before appointing Allardyce.
“It has been something I’ve been hoping to get done ever since I heard Sam was possibly going to England,” said Moyes.
“I knew that Ellis in the past had always been interested in me, so I hoped that he might come back again, and he certainly did. The club was really slick, Martin Bain (chief executive) and Ellis were terrific in getting things done.
“They have given me some guarantees and reassurances about what we can do, because let’s be fair, we’ve got a big club which we need to take forward, and make sure we aren’t celebrating staying up. That can’t be the goal. “It’s certainly not my goal. “I’m really looking forward to the challenge.”