'It’s not my cup of tea': L1 owner weighs in on sacking of Parkinson

Peterborough United owner Darragh MacAnthony has offered his verdict on the sacking of Phil Parkinson – and why Sunderland may have decided to part company with the 53-year-old.

Parkinson was dismissed on Sunday w ith the Black Cats now hunting for their third permanent manager since dropping into League One.

Sunderland were perched in eighth wh en they opted to make a managerial change, and MacAnthony says he won’t judge the club’s hierarchy for making the call having done previously in the past.

And he had a number of theories as to why Parkinson may have been dismissed – ranging from the impending takeover to a style of play which he admits isn’t exactly to his liking.

S p ea k i n g to h i s H a rd Truth podcast, MacAnthony said: “That could be a couple of things.

“I g ue s s i f Su n d e rl a n d are in that period of talking to somebody to buy the club, which they are from what I've read in the newspapers, s o m e t i m e s w h e n y o u' r e buying a club you could do as part of the deal that the manager has to be fired before they arrive.

“It saves you looking like the hatchet person.

"If I'm buying a club and I don't like the manager, I'll say to the owner 'look, do me a favour.

"He has to go. So get rid of him before I take over, or I'm not taking over.'

“That could be one reason. Another reason could be pressure from the fans, I don't know.

"But there's no fans at the stadium, so are you following social media?

“Another reason could be they're bad to watch. I don't know, I don't watch Sunderland games.

“We p l ay e d t h e m a n d they were a good team. We were better, but they won the game.

“I ' m n ot go i n g to j ud ge anyone because we've done it before and sacked a manager when we were in sixth place in the league.

“I know Phil Parkinson has a certain DNA, a way of playing, and it's not my cup of tea - but it works for some teams.”

Sunderland are continuing to assess potential re p l ac e m e nt s fo r s ac ke d m a n a ge r Pa rk i n s o n , w i th D a n ny C owl ey, Pau l C o o k a n d N i ge l Pea r s o n a m o n g the favourites with the bookmakers.