McCarthy sacking baffles Sunderland players

Monday, 06, Mar 2006 09:05

Sunderland stars have criticised the board's decision to sack Mick McCarthy with just ten games remaining in a doomed Premiership campaign.

The board announced that the manager had been sacked because it was "in the best interests of both parties for him to leave immediately", but that assertion has been disputed by two of the club's big-name players.

Joint leading goalscorer Liam Lawrence told Sky Sports that the timing of the sacking baffled him.

"Things could have been done at Christmas. I don't understand the timing, it's come at the wrong time for us," he said.

And Lawrence insisted that McCarthy was still popular in the dressing room.

"We were all behind Mick. A lot of the lads owe a lot to him," he explained.

"All the lads are gutted. When we were told it was a bad atmosphere, everyone was gutted and there were a lot of upset people in there."

Scottish international striker Kevin Kyle was even more scathing, describing the decision to relieve McCarthy of his duties at this late stage as pointless.

"I don't see any point in it. What's anybody coming in now going to achieve with ten games to go?" he asked.

"They are not going to save us, we're going down," he admitted.

And Kyle believes McCarthy would have been successful again back in the second tier.

"If we go down and get relegated, I don't think there's a better man to get us back up than the gaffer, as he's already proved his worth in the Championship," he claimed.

"We finished third in his first season then he managed to bring us up the second time around as champions. I'm sure he would have been able to do it again but to sack him and bring someone in now is a bit pointless."