Phil Bardsley says Ricky Sbragia deserves to be SAFC boss

May 7 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

PHIL Bardsley believes that Ricky Sbragia “deserves” a crack at managing Sunderland next season.

But the reliable defender knows that the onus is now on the players to prove it by producing a winning performance at Bolton.

In the aftermath of another dismal performance against Everton it has been suggested in some quarters that Sbragia has ‘lost’ the dressing room – a serious charge to lay at the door of a manager battling to resuscitate a side that looks haunted by the threat of relegation.

Bardsley wholeheartedly rejects those claims, pegging the poor displays on a lack of confidence and re-iterating that the Black Cats dressing room is united by the manager.

However, the only way to prove that beyond all reasonable doubt is to turn in a much-improved performance at the Reebok Stadium on Saturday – something that Bardsley is only too aware of.

“The gaffer has been brilliant, to be fair,” he said. “Obviously not all of us are players that he’s brought in and that he wants.

“He’s had to get on with it with players that he hasn’t brought in.

“I think from his point of view he’d like to get us through this season and give it a good go next season with his own players and his own ideas. And I think that he deserves that.

“I think he also deserves a big performance from us on Saturday.

“He’s a football man and it hurts him as much as it hurts everyone when we lose – he’s a good football man and I hope we can go out there and do it for him on

Saturday.” One of Sunderland’s few consistent performers this season, Bardsley could be absolved of most of the blame for the way that this depressing season has panned out.