EXCLUSIVE: 'People weren't trying' - Former boss on Sunderland's old 'rotten core'

Former Sunderland boss Simon Grayson has attempted to shed some light on what fans used to call the 'rotten core' at the club.

Former boss Simon Grayson has described the awful culture at Sunderland that he inherited, with players deliberately not trying following relegation to the Championship.

Grayson joined Sunderland in 2017 immediately after David Moyes had taken the club down from the Premier League.

It turned out to be a very short spell and a highly successful one, but the lack of professionalism from some players staggered Grayson, and instead of finding a group hungry to right their wrongs of the previous season and do right by the club, he was confronted by players who thought they were far too good to be there.

'You'd listen' - Will Still appears to open door to summer Sunderland move

“When I went in it was a real difficult time and I probably didn't realise it was as difficult a job as it turned out to be when I went into it”, Grayson exclusively told Sunderland Nation via Instant Casinos.

“I asked a lot of questions to Martin Bain. Ellis Short was going through the process of selling the club at the time, and a relegation is never the most ideal time to go in.

“I think you can do all the due diligence on football clubs, but it’s not until you are actually in there you can really sense that there was a lot more going wrong than you actually realised at the first.

“I get the financial aspect of it. That wasn't an issue. I knew that we had to sell players. That's the norm when teams come down from the Premier League.

“I thought we would have a little bit more money to spend than just over £1m that we did.”

The ‘rotten core’

For years before Grayson went into Sunderland, fans were regularly complaining about what they perceived to be a ‘rotten core’ within the club.

Pinning that down to exactly what it was has always been difficult, but Grayson eluded to it himself too earlier this month when he described the environment he found at the club to be ‘toxic.’

IMAGO / PA Images

He was only at the club for a matter of months in the end, but he has described a bad culture where players ‘were not trying’ and considered themselves much better than they actually were.

“When I say ‘toxic,’ I wouldn't say the whole club was toxic or anything like that, but there was just a small area within the club that had a bigger effect on the other group that was some really good lads,” Grayson said.

“You know, I'm talking about people like John O'Shea and others - they were fantastic lads to work with.

“But there were just a few things that snowballed out of control a little bit because there were people that just didn't want to be at the football club and trying like they should have done - and that is not a great start to anybody.

“You don't need those people at a football club as supporters, as an owner, or as a manager at a club that’s trying to be successful again.”

Grayson was understandably reluctant to specifically name names, although he was clearly talking about players such as Lamine Kone, Papy Djilibodji and Didier Ndong – the latter two of which ended up being sacked by the club.

“There was a lot of things as well that go on behind the scenes that is public knowledge as well,” he continued. “A couple of lads maybe went away on international duty and then didn't actually reach the international duty that they're supposed to go to.

“That has got nothing to do with me, but you have to sort of bear the brunt of it and get to try and resolve the issue as such. There were obviously other incidences that at the time weren’t great.

“Darren Gibson had an incident, didn't he? Before we started the season in a hotel bar and then obviously later on when I'd left in the car crash.

“So there was lots of different things, but it was just very difficult to get these players out of the club that didn't want to be there because ultimately as well, you have to have a buyer to take these people.

“And when people probably looked at them… well, they actually weren't as good of players as they may be thought they were, the players, or where they thought they should be playing in respective leagues around Europe or around the world.

“That's why you're left with a few of them, and then that can have a detrimental effect to the good characters that we had in that dressing room.

“Like I said, there was plenty of lads in there that would do anything for you. But then the other side of it made it more difficult, obviously.”

Juan Sartori responsible for Michael Beale Sunderland sacking, claims reports in South America

READ MORE SUNDERLAND NEWS

• Sunderland contract situation: Who is nearing the end of their current deal?
• Top Ten: Sunderland's best ever January signings
• Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham names two former Sunderland players as his heroes
• Jordan Willis and seven other Sunderland careers ruined by injury
• Sell to thrive, not sell to survive: The Sunderland 'model' explained - in their own words
• Luke O'Nien and eight other Sunderland players who successfully changed positions