Simon Grayson: No regrets at taking Sunderland job
Friday 24 November 2017 11:31, UK
Simon Grayson insists he has "no regrets" in taking the job at Sunderland, but wishes he was given more time to turn things around.
The former Black Cats manager left Preston for the Stadium of Light in the summer, but was dismissed last month with the club floundering in the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone.
Speaking on EFL Matters on Thursday night, Grayson said: "Obviously I'd still like to be there, we felt it would be a tough job when we went in and I have no regrets in taking it, I had a stable job at Preston but I felt it was too big an opportunity to turn down.
"We were turning it around slightly, there was a lot of work still to be done, as Chris [Coleman] is going to find out over the next few weeks, but it just didn't work out for a number of reasons unfortunately.
"We went in there and had to galvanise the group to make sure we'd changed the mentality of the players around us, and we were doing that at the training ground. But it's all judged on results and they weren't good enough, hence why you lose your job, and circumstances sometimes out of our control weren't helping us along the way."
There was a huge turnover of players at the club in the summer following their relegation from the Premier League, and Grayson cited that as a factor in their early-season struggles.
"There were players that didn't want to be there so we had to get rid of them, then there were players who probably didn't want to be there but nobody wants to take them because of the [money] they're earning," he said.
"Then there are maybe one or two who aren't accustomed to what the Championship is like. It's a ferocious division and so demanding, and maybe they didn't sometimes understand what came with the territory."
Sunderland were beaten in their first game under Coleman at Aston Villa on Tuesday night, and now face a huge match at Burton on Saturday. Grayson insists, however, that with time things will turn for the Black Cats.
"Somewhere down the line it's going to change, a club like Sunderland is not going to continue to lose games," he said. "That home form is eventually going to turn around but when you get relegated as a club the one thing any manager needs is time. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed that."
