Marco Gabbiadini has criticised some recent comments from Mike Dodds at Sunderland.
Dodds has just completed what was his third stint at interim Sunderland manager, with this most recent stint being his longest.
He was handed the job until the summer after Sunderland sacked Michael Beale in February, though it would prove to be an extremely difficult spell for Dodds.
He picked up just two wins from 14 games in charge compared to Beale’s four win in 12 games as Sunderland manager.
Dodds is expected to stay on at the club, though a new manager will arrive at the Stadium of Light this summer, with reports suggesting that the Black Cats could wait until the end of this month to make an appointment.
Dodds has become an increasing source of criticism among fans following Sunderland’s poor results in the second half of the 2023/24 season.
And now, BBC pundit Gabbiadini has criticised some recent comments from Dodds following the 2-0 defeat vs Sheffield Wednesday on the final day of the season.
Marco Gabbiadini blasts Mike Dodds comments at Sunderland
Total Sport replayed some Dodds comments from after the Sheffield Wednesday defeat.
Dodds said: “There’s some real learnings to be had from everyone.
“I think the group are really, really clear on, there are certain things next year that have to be completely non-negotiables, because we won’t accept (that’s all of us, club, players staff), we won’t accept another season like that. No way.”
Reacting to those comments, former Sunderland striker Gabbiadini said: “I have a bit of sympathy for him, but I do think he waffles on.
“I’d have much preferred it if he said, ‘The club’s made some mistakes. We shouldn’t have started the season without a recognised striker’, things like that.
“That’s the real issues, not about the players reflecting. He’s sort of doing this threat thing, I think… that’s like schoolboy stuff.”
What Sunderland are really missing right now
Beale caused a lot of upset and anger with some of his comments in the media. And some of the things Dodds gave said haven’t gone down too well either.
Like Gabbiadini says, it seems like Dodds has often deflected from what the real issues are; that being said, Dodds won’t have wanted to jeopardise his future at the club by speaking out of line.
What Sunderland really need is someone who knows how to communicate. Tony Mowbray was that someone, as he had the experience of dealing with the press and of dealing with difficult scenarios.
Beale not so much and Dodds definitely not. But Sunderland seem dead set on hiring a young and fresh manager and so they’ll inevitably not have as much experience of handling the media.
So it’s going to be a tricky job for whoever comes in this summer, but whatever happens, improving on the season just gone should be the absolute minimum for Sunderland.