David Moyes has suggested that he might not have taken the Sunderland manager’s job if he had been made fully aware of the financial constraints under which he would have to work.
The 53-year-old says that when he succeeded Sam Allardyce in July he did not know that the owner, Ellis Short, intended to sell the club. The American billionaire, who has owned the club for eight years, is in talks with interested parties, which is the reason he is not releasing significant funds for the Scot to strengthen the squad in January.
“I would have had to have thought a lot more about it [accepting the job],” Moyes said. “I didn’t know the club could possibly go up for sale, and I was not made aware of that before. Sunderland always had an appeal to me, but if I had known about the situation I would have needed to look at it in a different way.”
The irony of Short looking to sell so soon after appointing a manager he had attempted to bring to Wearside on at least two previous occasions is not lost on Moyes, who, after his appointment, told the club website: “Ellis has given me some guarantees and reassurances about what we can do.”
Those assurances, however, appear not to have fully materialised. Choosing his words carefully yesterday, Moyes said: “I knew the owner wanted me here for a while, so I find that difficult. I came to improve the club.”
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Moyes spent £28 million on seven players in August, a figure he advised Short was modest in comparison with Sunderland’s rivals. Despite that warning, the former Manchester United manager was informed that a repeat of that spending next month would not be sanctioned. “I didn’t see us having no money,” he added, before today’s Premier League visit of Watford.
Sunderland’s missing men
Duncan Watmore (forward): Knee ligament injury, out for rest of the season
Paddy McNair (midfielder): Knee ligament injury, out for rest of the season
Lee Cattermole (midfielder): Hip injury, out until March
Jan Kirchhoff (midfielder): Torn knee cartilage, back in March
Lynden Gooch (midfielder): Ankle injury, back in February
Jack Rodwell (midfielder): Hamstring injury, back in January
“I knew in the summer what we were spending was small in comparison — I said that to the owner, I said that our spend was small. I’m moving on from that now, I have dealt with it in my head and we are getting on with it. Have I been tempted to walk? No.”
Sunderland’s lengthening injury list has exacerbated the need for new players. Jan Kirchhoff has become the latest name on it, with the German mid-fielder set to be ruled out for up to three months with a knee cartilage tear sustained in the 1-0 defeat by Chelsea that left Sunderland bottom of the table.
Moyes also expects Lamine Koné to be called up to the Ivory Coast squad for the Africa Cup of Nations.
Of Sunderland’s prospects, he added: “It would be a good achievement to stay up. Other managers have done it here, but mine might be harder with the way the money levels have gone.”