Tony Pulis has claimed that ‘a majority of football’ have wanted Sunderland to ‘struggle’ this season.
Sunderland have endured a very tough start to 2024, winning only five of their 20 games since the turn of the year.
The Black Cats have been left in 13th place, with their only real target now earning themselves a top half finish.
It is far from the success they enjoyed last season, in which Tony Mowbray guided them to the Championship play-off semi-finals at the first attempt.
The 60-year-old was well loved at the Stadium of Light, however he was eventually sacked in December, with Sunderland sat in ninth place after a run of only win in five games.
The Wearside outfit weren’t to know how much more downhill their season would go though, with the replacement of Michael Beale proving to be a massive disaster.
Sunderland slammed for ‘ridiculous decision’
Tony Pulis has now slammed Sunderland for sacking Mowbray, and has claimed the ‘ridiculous decision’ has made football fans eager to see the club to ‘struggle’.
Speaking to Football League World, the former coach said: “There’s a lot of people behind the scenes who aren’t football people, and they make unbelievably bad decisions.
“What the hell were they up to getting rid of Tony Mowbray? He’s a staunch football man who knows how to build a winning team. When they sacked him, the majority of football wanted Sunderland to struggle because Tony Mowbray did not deserve it.
“The biggest mistake owners make is not appointing an experienced man behind the scenes. If Sunderland had an experienced football person or someone who had been in the game for a long time behind the scenes, they would have told Kyril Louis-Dreyfus that it was an absolutely ridiculous decision to get rid of Tony Mowbray.”
Sunderland were still right to sack Tony Mowbray
Tony Pulis clearly didn’t watch much of Sunderland at the start of the season, because a majority of fans will still agree that sacking him was the right decision.
The Black Cats looked far from the standard they put out last time out and were really struggling for consistency, while Mowbray had also fallen out with the owners anyway.
His sacking was guaranteed and, as sad as it was, it was the right decision for all parties. If we had replaced sensibly then nobody would even be speaking on it, but it was our decision to bring in Michael Beale that raised eyebrows.
Mowbray would have done better than Beale yes, but that doesn’t mean he was doing a great job at the start of the season.
To say ‘a majority of football’ have gone against us since also seems a little over the top. I can’t say I speak to ‘a majority’ of football fans, but I have heard of very few people that want us to struggle just because of his exit.