Journalist Craig Hope has been speaking on the Off The Ball podcast to discuss the meeting Kristjaan Speakman held with the Sunderland players on Monday.
Sunday saw the Black Cats announce their decision to part company with Lee Johnson following their embarrassing 6-0 defeat against Bolton Wanderers.
Was it right to sack Johnson?
Yes
No
Reports have since emerged suggesting the Wearside club are now looking to Roy Keane as a possible candidate for the vacancy left by the 40-year-old.
And following Johnson’s departure, Hope believes Sunderland’s sporting director held a meeting with the players to discuss their decision to axe their now-former manager.
However, Hope has claimed the meeting did not go down well with all of the Sunderland players, with many still holding loyalty towards Johnson.
He said: “On Monday, after Lee Johnson was sacked on Sunday night following the 6-0 defeat at Bolton on Saturday, Kristjaan Speakman, the sporting director, called a meeting with the players to outline the reasons why Lee Johnson had been sacked.
“And there was a little bit of talk in there, things like xG – you know, real forward-thinking in [terms of] strategy and their methodology.
“And I think that a couple of players weren’t really on board with that. I think there’s quite a few in there still loyal to Johnson, who thought it was harsh that the manager was sacked with them only two points off the automatic promotion places.”
TIF Thoughts on Hope’s claims…
With promotion back to the Championship the target on Wearside as they sit just outside of the automatic spots with 17 games to go, we are a little concerned by these claims.
Over the years, the Sunderland squad has seen a lot of change, with a lot of the squad being brought in by Johnson, however, we feel they need to get over the club’s decision and focus on the bigger picture.
Although Sunderland remain in a promising position to achieve promotion, for us, they were losing too many games by heavy deficits for a club that are looking to go up.
And if they do have hopes of going up this season, we think the players must be open to the methods of whoever comes in to replace Johnson, with seventh spot just seven points adrift.
In other news: Kyril Louis-Dreyfus drops huge hint amid Roy Keane rumours at Sunderland