Sunderland boss Simon Grayson has revealed that he thinks that the club has been mismanaged over recent years and admitted that the Black Cats have a transfer budget which is way smaller than fellow Championship clubs such as Middlesbrough.
Grayson, speaking to BBC Five Live, admitted: “It’s common knowledge there isn’t a great deal of money to spend. It’s a decent enough budget, but it’s still way short of a lot of clubs who are in and around us at this moment in time.
“You only have to look at the players we’ve brought in so far that none have been significant signings where the rivals who have come down have spent a huge sum of money.
“What I’m trying to do, between myself and the chief executive Martin Bain, is to try to get this club some sort of stability again, where we don’t have to do it for millions of pounds, that you can do it on a lesser budget.
“We are trying to bring some pride back in the football club because in the last few years it has been in a dark place and mismanaged on many fronts.
“We’re trying to put smiles back on the faces of everyone and give this football club a fantastic opportunity to move forward again.”
The Black Cats have developed a reputation for narrowly avoiding relegation from the Premier Leave over the past decade but that ended last season as they were relegation from the top flight after ten years.
Grayson will now have realistic expectations of the club and it will be very difficult for his side to win straight promotion to the Premier League, considering that the club are £110 million in debt.
So far, Grayson has brought in James Vaughn and Jason Steele for £500,000 each, with Aiden McGeady costing £250,000 and Tyias Browning and Brendan Galloway joining on loan.
By contrast Middlesbrough have spent close to £42 million on rebuilding their side this summer which included paying £15 million to lure striker Britt Assombalonga.
