David Moyes is on a mission to prove that managing Sunderland is not “the impossible job” after all as he seeks his first Premier League win since replacing Sam Allardyce in July.
“I want to succeed here,” said Sunderland’s seventh manager in five years as his bottom-placed side prepared for Saturday’s home game with West Bromwich Albion without the injured Adnan Januzaj and Lee Cattermole. “There’s a big job to be done here but I don’t think it’s impossible. There’s an awful lot of things needing to be fixed at this club but I think they can be fixed, I really do.”
Moyes believes the rapid turnover in managers – it is a year since Dick Advocaat resigned in despair – explains Sunderland’s constant battles against relegation. “The revolving door needs to be stopped,” he said. “Things need to be put right but to change them there needs to be a period of stability.”
He sets great store by “honesty” and the team’s supporters and players are having to accept his refusal to sugar coat reality. “My words could be interpreted as too downbeat,” Moyes acknowledged after pointing out that Januzaj’s absence for a minimum of six weeks with ankle ligament damage will hardly enhance his side’s creativity. “But honest is all I can be. I think people would rather you tell the truth than untruths.
“The players have had to take criticism from me. We need a really committed team and a team that can concentrate. At the moment I don’t know what I’m going to get from my team.”
Moyes is unsure how Cattermole – who has had an epidural injection in an attempt to ease a back problem which causes him severe leg pain – will be absent for, but he is adamant that the recent resignations of Ishtiaq Rehman, Sunderland’s former doctor, and Danny Philpott, the assistant academy director, should not reflect badly on the club.
“The doctor situation was something I was aware of before I came in,” he said. “He’s had some really difficult decisions in recent weeks and I think his feeling is maybe that it was time to go. Danny Philpott had come in with the idea of getting the main [academy] job but they [Sunderland’s board] didn’t want that. Whatever decisions are made, the club will only ever do things for the best. Martin [Bain, the chief executive] is a correct fella. I can only say, anything he’s doing, he’s doing for the right reasons.”
In the wake of this week’s revelations regarding alleged corruption in football, Moyes has called for great transfer market transparency. “When a transfer is completed let’s get what the club has had to pay the agent straight out there,” he said. “I think there might be a few gasps from supporters and the media.
“I’m not condoning what’s been revealed this week but it might actually be small stuff compared to what else is going on, to some of the money being given to agents to do deals. I’m amazed at how many agents are representing the same player – there could be 25 and they say they’re acting as ‘intermediaries’. Maybe that’s why the agents’ fees are bigger, because everyone’s getting paid down the line – this year’s been one of the worst for that.”
