Whole host of former Sunderland players have their say on the current predicament of the club

Sunderland’s current situation has everyone involved with the club feeling worried - including a host of former players, who have taken to Twitter to voice their concerns.

The main bone of contention has came with the decision made by the club’s owners to appoint Phil Parkinson - a man very few supporters actually wanted to see join the club.

Despite initial patience with the former Bolton boss, results have been catastrophic since he arrived and the last two performances in particular at the Stadium of Light have led to a complete breakdown in the relationship between the fans in the stands and the players on the pitch. For whatever reason, Parkinson has not been able to galvanise a squad that had stopped playing for Jack Ross - and what comes next doesn’t bear thinking about.

One former player who is particularly vocal about the current affairs of the club is Stephen Elliott, and he expressed his dismay at the decision made by our owners to appoint an uninspiring manager who he suggests the players have no time for:

In response to Elliott’s damning tweet came a post from Julio Arca, who isn’t a fan of the club’s owners and the way that they have gone about attempting to forge a relationship with the Sunderland supporters.

The former Argentina U20 international - who is now based back in his homeland after many years in the north east - believes that the club needs ‘massive changes in every area’:

Ex-Sunderland winger Andy Welsh - who spoke at length to Roker Report about his time at the club back in 2017, which you can read here - responded to a tweet from our account asking people where they think the club is heading, noting that the change from the old regime to new is too big and that it has harmed our chances of finding stability:

Elsewhere, former England cap Micky Gray had his say on the Sunderland managerial situation, advocating the sacking of Phil Parkinson in favour of an old friend getting the job instead. Would appointing someone viewed as a ‘risk’ be worth it if, as a result, the club gets a lift because of their presence on and off the pitch?

Another former Sunderland youth player, Thomas Butler, has lamented the state of the club’s recruitment - suggesting that it’s the main reason behind why the club has not been able to kick on over recent years.

Butler - who we had the pleasure of hosting on our Podcast earlier this year - is also advocating major change at the club, though didn’t go into specifics beyond mentioning the fact that our recruitment is not up to scratch: