Former Sunderland manager blames 'toxic dressing room' for awful record

Simon Grayson had a disastrous spell as Sunderland manager - but seven years on he still maintains it wasn't his fault.

Simon Grayson says his Sunderland failure was not his fault, and he has blamed the ‘toxic dressing room’ and Ellis Short for what happened during his time on Wearside.

Grayson had a brief spell as Sunderland boss immediately after relegation to the Championship in 2017, but he managed just three wins from 18 games.

He is widely regarded as one of the worst Sunderland managers in recent history, although he says people need to understand that he was up against it from the off.

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“When Sunderland came knocking it was just too good of an opportunity,” Grayson told the Lancashire Post. “If somebody [else] took them back up, I would’ve been regretting that.

“It was a huge football club and I probably didn’t realise, at the time, that it was in as bad a state as it was – in terms of the toxic side within the dressing room.

“The stadium wasn’t a great place for players to play; the money had obviously been cut hugely from Ellis Short.

“He put something like £300m in and we’d sold players for something like £40/50m, and brought 12 new ones in for £1m – which doesn’t really happen, if you are wanting a tilt at getting back to the Premier League in your first season.

“So, there were a lot of things I didn’t really understand – or know how difficult they’d be at that time.

“Obviously, I didn’t stay there too long but Chris Coleman went in and found it just as difficult as me.

“So, it is not always the coaches’ fault. There are other things, behind the scenes, that are maybe having an impact on results.”

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