David Moyes is scheduled to take his squad on a group visit to the city’s Nissan car manufacturing plant next week.
It is part of the Sunderland manager’s endeavour to reconnect the club with its often disillusioned local fan base but he also hopes some of the feel-good factor engendered by news of the Japanese company’s freshly reaffirmed commitment to Wearside may rub off on his struggling players.
“I tell you what, some of us might be looking for a job in that Nissan factory soon,” joked Moyes, whose side seek their first Premier League win of the season at home against Arsenal on Saturday lunchtime. “We’re all going next week. We’re trying to get closer to the local community. We need them.”
Despite collecting two points from his first nine league games since succeeding Sam Allardyce in July, Moyes retains the staunch support of Ellis Short, Sunderland’s owner, and Martin Bain, the chief executive. That does not prevent some supporters clamouring for the former Everton, Manchester United and Real Sociedad manager’s dismissal but Moyes is determined not to be distracted by this disgruntled, dissenting soundtrack.
Instead the club’s seventh manager in five years is convinced he must press ahead with an attempt to seek a longer- term solution centred on more possession-based tactics and better passing, rather than resort to the quick tactical fixes deployed by certain predecessors.
His problem is that this involves surmounting a considerable pain barrier. “I think whoever was going to make this better was going to take a lot of poison until they got to the other side,” he said. “I’m having to take my poison just now but this is a club that has struggled for a long time.”
Moyes is confident that Sunderland are “definitely improving” but accepts that imminent wins are imperative. “We need results to show that things are going in the right direction,” he said. “Everyone judges by results.
“I don’t feel pressure from people I work with – Ellis and Martin have been very supportive – but I think the truth is that sometimes the noise outside the building can become bigger than the noise inside it. You can’t keep losing. You have to pick up wins. I’m a big boy and I know that needs to happen. I would think tomorrow would be a difficult atmosphere but we’re going to have around 45,000 supporters and they’ve got a chance to make it a great atmosphere against Arsenal.”
He is encouraged by a conviction that his squad are behind him. “I think the players are enjoying it,” Moyes said. “We’re not brilliant but we’re passing it better. We’re trying to get them to play better, to pass it more and we’re encouraging them to take the ball at the back and play.
“We want to play through the middle of the pitch, we want to get more crosses into the box. I don’t want to be sitting back defending, kicking the ball up the pitch and chasing it all game. I don’t want to do that. But I have not, at the moment, been able to find a style or a group of players able to win games. It’s been difficult.”
