Flanagan slams former stars who hit out atdressing room
Tom Flanagan has torn apart the myth that Sunderland have an unsettled dressing room – and says the atmosphere in the squad is ‘as good as it’s been.’
Thecentrebackwasspeaking after the 1-0 win over Peterborough United, which saw the Black Cats continue their unbeaten start to the season.
Despite being presented with a tricky start to the new League One campaign, Sunderland have picked up seven points from nine available thus far and have shown some encouraging glimpses ahead of what is sure to be a gruelling 46-game slog.
And the promising start to the campaign comes after a summer in which the atmosphere at the Academy of Light has been placed firmly under the microscope.
Comments from former players – most notably Lewis Morgan – painted the dressing roomatmosphereinanegative light.
But F l a n a ga n h a s d i s - missed those comments, and believes such remarks should be treated with caution in the future.
"It's the easiest thing in the world to leave somewhere and say negative things because you've left,” he said.
"Why would you leave somewhere and say 'oh, it's the greatest dressing room I've ever been in', because it makes you look a bit silly in the dressing room you're in now.
"Why would someone do that? I would say the dressing room has been as good as it's been,” he continued.
"We're a tight-knit group no matter what anybody on the outside thinks or says or what people who leave the club say.
"Ultimately, people who leave the club probably don't want to be leaving the club so they're not going to be saying nice things.”
‘Cliques’ have also been brought up in the past, but Flanagan insists that while some people may get on better than others, the group remain united.
Indeed, the circumstances in which the 2019/20 season was curtailed – and Sunderland were denied a shot at
promotion – has yielded a stronger collective spirit.
"It's something that doesn't affect us and we're not in a situation where we're worried about cliques,” Flanagan admitted. There's some people in the dressing room who get on better than others - that's like any other workplace.
"I think there's a lot been made of it, but at the end of the day we're work colleagues.
"Wespendalotoftimewith each other and it's better this year, because we're in a situation now when our season got cut short and we failed to get where we wanted.
“Now, it's all dawned on us that we have to get where we've got to get now."
Key to the improving atmosphere behind the scenes h ave b e e n th e n ew f ac e s brought into the squad this summer – with Flanagan believing ‘winner’ Aiden O’Brien and ‘captain’ Bailey Wright have added key qualities to the club both on and off the field.
And he says the emergence of a number of leaders in the ranks has cultivated a different culture to that seen in recent years.
"I think we've made some really good additions,” said Flanagan.
"Aiden O'Brien has come in and been really good about the place, and he's come from awinningclub.Heknowswhat
it's like to be a winner.
"Obviously Bailey coming back, he's good and we've added another captain to the dressing room.
“We're probably pushing five or six captains in that dressingroomnow,andthere's now a little bit more of an open platform whereas previously we were a little bit... if someone was saying something not so nice we were a little bit protective of ourselves, and maybe we had our guards up.
"I t h i n k t h at's w h at's changed and you see it in a game like that."
Flanagan was pleased to see Sunderland’s strong offfield spirit yield a positive result against Peterborough United on Saturday, in a game where the Black Cats had to
be patient to claim the three points.
"I think a game like that today is to be expected,” said the centre back.
"They're going to be challenging up there and they're the kind of games we need to win, but maybe in previous seasons we've drawn.
"I think we were knocking on the door for the majority of the time and finally got what we deserved."
*Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson said the decision to award Sunderland a late penalty at the Stadium of Light was ‘unbelievably bad’.
A tight game was settled with just under ten minutes to play when Jack Taylor was adjudged to have fouled the lively DenverHumedowninthebox.
An irate Ferguson said it was a ‘disgraceful’ call by referee Scott Oldham.
“It was a very tight game as expected, but the referee changed it by making a disgraceful decision,” Ferguson said. “It was an unbelievably bad decision. It was a foul on Jack. The players are fuming and so am I. It was an appalling decision."
Ferguson also conceded that his side’s inability to turn a promising start into a goal had been a key factor in Sunderland’s win.
Front pair Jonson ClarkeHarris and Siriki Dembele caused the Black Cats problems in a lively opening 20 minutes, with the former missing a glorious opportunity to score when Lee Burge pushed an effort from Dembele into his path.
Ferguson said that inability to convert early on proved to be key.
“It’s a disappointing result as I was happy with our performance level, but we had to score in the opening third of the game when we gave them all sorts of problems,” he said.
“Clarke-Harrisshouldhave scored early on and if he does they would have had to come at us and we would have had space to exploit.
“When you’re on top in these games you have to score and we didn’t.”