Quinn warns Black Cats must improve

Apr 28 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

NIALL Quinn says Sunderland's players and management face a week of "soul searching" as he warned them they must improve – or face the wrath of the Wearside public once again.

Despite being left at the “low ebb” of his Sunderland tenure after the West Brom defeat, Black Cats chairman Quinn has again thrown his support behind Ricky Sbragia, and backed the players to extricate themselves from relegation trouble.

But he has warned that effort and commitment are the minimum requirement of the Sunderland fans, and anything less will draw criticism from them.

Quinn was pictured looking downcast at the Hawthorns as Sunderland slumped to a 3-0 defeat that thrust them back into relegation trouble – and admits the defeat hit him hard.

But the Black Cats will not take drastic measures to alter their fortunes, and Quinn believes there will be an improvement for the visit of Everton on Sunday.

“Was it a low ebb? Yes. I think even at half time the game was ours for the taking and it didn’t happen,” he said. “So our guys have a bit of soul searching to do in the early part of the week and then get themselves in great nick for the weekend.

“I’d say if it was the first day of the season or the last day of the season, all the Sunderland fans

want to see is the maximum effort and passion and getting stuck in.

“If they do that at the weekend, as they did against Hull and Manchester United, they’ll get a standing ovation. If they don’t they’ll get criticism. That’s the way.

“I knew we’d put in a good performance against Hull, but I had that gut feeling all week. It didn’t reciprocate for West Brom.

“That’s the problem for us, we’ve made it difficult for ourselves. But something tells me we’ll be much better at the weekend against Everton.”