Johnson: I’ll drive Cats to 15 per cent improvement
Lee Johnson says Sunderland have to lift their standards right across the organisation – after being informed that Dion Sanderson was cuptied less than an hour before kick-off last Tuesday night.
Sanders on was due to play against Oldham Athletic in the Papa John’s Trophy, but was withdrawn from the lineup when it emerged he had represented parent club Wolves earlier in the competition.
"I take that on my chin," Johnson said.
"I’m the one that selects the side. Yes, I’ve only been here a couple of days, but it’s my fault.
"What we’ve got to do is drive standards. Our organisational standards need to be better. I think when you get a new set of eyes on things, it's always good.
"I'll give you one example – I noticed that two or three of the clocks in the dressing room didn't work. And I was like to Humey (Denver Hume) 'go on then, tell me', and he said 'gaffer, they haven't worked for about six months'.
"So you're telling me that that hasn't worked, and all we need to do is put a battery in it. Simple. It's the smallest of standards, the fact that in three clocks nobody had changed the batteries.
"But we need to make sure we do everything.
"Like with the All Blacks, they say sweep the sheds and we want to act with real class. When we go to Oldham, we want to make sure we leave the dressing room in a smarter way than we found it.
"They're the things that are free, really. Manners, discipline, punctuality.
"At the moment, I'm just seeing a little bit that needs to be turned 10, 15 per cent and driving those standards and policing them can't just come from me.”