Poyet O’Neill sold me on Sunderland

Gus Poyet was convinced that Sunderland was the perfect job for him by Martin O’Neill the man chairman Ellis Short sacked in March.

The Northern Irishman showed he holds no grudges about his treatment at the Stadium of Light by giving Poyet a glowing report on the club.

“I didn’t need anyone to persuade me to come to Sunderland,” says Poyet, the club’s fifth manager in five years. “But Martin said only positive things about the club.

“I just happened to be in the same buggy as him at a League Managers Association golf day during the summer. I took the opportunity to bombard him with around 150 questions about Sunderland. He must have thought: ‘What’s the matter with this guy? Why is he asking all these questions?’

“Martin’s a very honest person and not only did he speak highly of the club, but also of the chairman and players. I admit that I used him, when he was having 18 holes next to me, to get all the information that I could.

“After leaving Brighton I set my sights on managing in the Premier League. I was probably looking at eight teams and Sunderland was one of them.

“Realistically, you look and think: ‘Who can have a problem?’ For me to come back, unfortunately someone needed to lose his job. As soon as I saw that Sunderland were not winning games, I started to pay more attention.

“You know there’s a bigger possibility of something happening, though they still need to call you and then they need to like you. Now that I have got the job I will try to talk with Martin again and ask him more questions.”

Poyet reveals he was inspired to become a manager 15 years ago when he was a player at Chelsea. “My whole attitude to management changed because of what happened to Gianluca Vialli,” he says. “One minute he was in the dressing -room and the next he was the manager. I thought: ‘That can happen to me too’.

“That’s when I started learning and analysing everything that was going on.”

The Uruguayan was heavily tipped to make the move to a different North-East club in the summer after Joe Kinnear took over as Director of Football at Newcastle. He was installed by the bookies as favourite to replace Alan Pardew after he’d been sacked by Brighton, despite taking them to the Championship Play-offs.

“Perhaps I was linked with Newcastle because Brighton beat them twice in the FA Cup in the last two seasons,” says Poyet. “Perhaps it was because I am friends with Dennis Wise who used to be there as Director of Football.

“But until Sunderland came along I hadn’t heard from any other club.”

He adds: “It’s easier to come here now than after 15 or 20 games. My aim is to try and get some quick wins under our belts. I believe we can stay up but if we go down I will accept my responsibility.’’