Ellis Short says Simon Grayson deserved sack by Sunderland after poor start
Friday 3 November 2017 18:10, UK
Sunderland owner Ellis Short says a change of manager was necessary after their "horrible start to the season".
Simon Grayson's five-month term as Mackems boss came to an end after Tuesday's 3-3 draw against Bolton, with the club sitting 21st in the Championship after one win in 15 games.
While Ellis had respect for Grayson, he was unhappy with their defensive performances and felt they needed a different approach.
Speaking to safc.com, Ellis said: "I don't have to explain the horrible start to the season we've had. The stats speak for themselves.
"I don't believe that squad of players belongs in the bottom three of the Championship.
"What's worse, it's not as if we've been putting in great performances and just can't get the ball to go into the back of the net.
"Our goalscoring performances have been towards the top of the league but we've given away more goals than all but one team. This is largely with many of the defensive players we had last year in the Premier League.
"That's just not acceptable. Our view at the club was that we needed to make a change.
"Simon is a very good man. He tried his best. We have a lot of respect for him but we felt that as badly as things have gone, we needed to try something different."
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Ellis maintains he is still heavily involved in the day-to-day running of the club and had a major role in the decision to sack Grayson.
"I was very involved," he said. "It's an important decision and I talked with Martin [Bain] about it probably daily as things began to get bad.
"I know it's been in the press that I don't care anymore and am not involved but that is simply not true. That's reporters guessing or making something up.
"I'm as involved as I've ever been. It is true I'm not physically at as many games, which is really a function of me being more involved in my business life and my family spending more time in the US. But I'm watching and paying attention."
