Moyes quit reports: Fear the gather of clowns - SAFC boss 'set to walk' after talks with Ellis Short

According to the Sunday Mirror, David Moyes is set to quit Sunderland having lost the fans, the dressing room and having been warned he will not receive any of the £45million parachute payments the club will receive next season as a result of relegation.

The Mirror claims are somewhat more sensational than a similar story which was published in the Daily Mail at the same time last night which suggest Moyes will walk away from Sunderland if owner Ellis Short is unable to guarantee his manager he will be backed in the transfer market.

Photo by Nigel Roddis/Getty Images

Either way, are Sunderland set to plunge themselves into crisis again?

Whilst the Mirror claim Moyes has only lingered at Sunderland over fears around his compensation package, writer Colin Young also claims club staff believe "he could be gone by the end of the week".

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

And certainly it's true that Moyes has lost at least a significant section of the Sunderland support and segments of his dressing room, the impact and extent of both factors has remained almost impossible to judge.

Whilst away from the terraces Black Cats fans have railed against the Sunderland boss for months, the Stadium of Light crowd have remained generally muted. Sporadic calls for Moyes to go only gathered some volume in the final few home games - and only then really when the failing team conceded a now routine selection of early goals.

A decent start to the Championship campaign may bring numbers back on-side with the 54-year-old Scot.

And with eleven senior first team members set to miss this afternoon's meaningless final game of the season at Chelsea, the list of 'knocks' and 'dead legs' amongst the squad would ordinarily be conclusive proof that the Sunderland dressing room have given up on Moyes.

Yet those players that turned out at Arsenal mid-week did at least put in some effort after being publicly slammed by their manager for a lack of interest three days earlier against Swansea at the Stadium of Light.

Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

And with today's casualty list containing the names of many of those expected to leave the Stadium of Light in the coming weeks, it likely matters little that the soon-to-depart flakes have decided turning out in a meaningless final game is beneath them.

But it's the significant final reason offered for Moyes' desire to quit which will strike fear into the hearts of Sunderland fans. A succession of managers appointed by Ellis Short in recent years have turned on the owner and uttered that what was agreed in principle when they arrived was never followed through.

Today's reports each claim that Moyes will not be handed any - or a significant portion - of either the parachute payments due to the club or money raised from player sales this summer.

Certainly the Sunderland boss has already acknowledged that the parachute portion of the club's income may well be allocated to debt repayment or operating costs and wage payments rather than transfer business:

Yes but maybe all that money could get used up for other stuff. Because you've got that it doesn't necessarily mean it goes on recruiting players.

As for player sales - with Jordan Pickford, Lamine Kone, Fabio Borini et al likely to depart for fees in the coming weeks - Moyes appears to have already been warned he can't bank on the cash to get off to a quick start in attracting the cream of second-tier talent who will be on the move as May gives way to June and July:

Maybe we have to sell to buy - that could be a way. But do you buy first? It's bit like selling your house and buying a house - what works first?

Conundrums, but there's certainly little in the Sunday papers to really indicate which way Moyes will jump next week following the planned talks with Ellis Short.

The man himself spoke late last week about taking a short holiday before returning to his desk to begin implementing transfer plans and players will return to training at the end of June.

Moyes future will be determined at next week's meeting with Short and chief executive Martin Bain. There is plenty to fear from the outcome of that gathering of clowns.

But with a multitude of equations to work through, a measured judgement call needed urgently and a decisive first step in the road to rebuild required, you just know that recent history dictates Sunderland's controlling powers will fudge it, call it the wrong way and likely lunge themselves into crisis again.

Strap yourself in.