This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Former Sunderland player Stephen Elliott has discussed the club’s current predicament and has pointed the finger of blame at one individual.
What did he say?
Given the Black Cats’ current plight it would be fair to examine the several areas of the club that are failing, from the players to the manager to the board.
Elliott, however, seems to think Stewart Donald is mostly responsible for the current situation, and given he only recently decided to change the manager, that is a fair assessment.
The former striker suggested the owner has made numerous risks which haven’t paid off, and now the club is struggling as a result on and off the field, with negative results and declining attendances – just 26,358 watched the defeat to Burton on Tuesday.
Writing on Twitter, Elliott said:
[ad_pod ]
Chance to reconcile mistakes?
Donald’s popularity with fans seems to be on a permanent decline and despite getting rid of the much-maligned Jack Ross things still haven’t taken a turn for the better.
On paper, the experience and know-how of Phil Parkinson seemed like it would be a good fit to rally the club and get everyone looking upwards, but his tenure simply hasn’t worked out.
He is on a six-match winless run with his only wins coming against Tranmere and Southend, teams which lie 20th and 23rd in the table respectively.
Sacking Parkinson would appease fans and giving a new boss, such as the popular Kevin Phillips, money for transfers, could see fan opinion sway back in the owner’s favour.
Whether he has the financial power to make that happen is another question, but one thing is for certain, and that is that he faces the prospect of things getting worse if the current situation prevails.
More fans could be turned away and the appeal for players to join could decrease significantly – making the prospect of getting out of League One all the more difficult.
