Lee Johnson has revealed his upset following proposals by the 'Big Six' to breakaway and form a European Super League.
The Black Cats head coach cited the beauty of the game coming from its working class roots and establishing fair competition.
Proposals may have fallen flat on its face following a worldwide backlash - but discussions regarding the future of the game and potential repercussions will rage on.
"I personally felt a bit upset," said Johnson. "I think the beauty of football is that it's derived from working class men and I go back to what I said about the Plymouth game - it's about fair competition.
"The bond is in the struggle. You've got to take Sunderland as an example because of the struggle for however many years.
"At the same time when there's success on the back of that, sometimes it skips a generation that success, but when it comes it's spoken about years and years.
"Obviously the community based aspect of a football club means, for me, that your main competition should always be at home.
"I think there's many issues in the game about where the money goes, but it's got to be ran as best as it possibly can.
"It was a very poor communication line on the release and I think it put a lot of people in difficult positions that they didn't deserve to be in."
