It always seemed like no more than a matter of time before Sunderland returned to the Championship.
After enduring more relegation battles than Black Cats fans will care to remember, Sunderland are no longer a Premier League side and it was David Moyes who was at the helm when the creaking ship finally sank.
Moyes was unable to do what Dick Advocaat, Gus Poyet and Paolo di Canio managed in recent seasons but how much of it was the Scotsman’s fault?
If you ask Harry Redknapp, Moyes deserves little to no blame for the drop which is an opinion that’s gone down like a lead balloon among most supporters.
Redknapp has insisted that not even Antonio Conte, the Italian who managed to turn Chelsea into champions-elect after a tenth-placed finish last term, would have prevented Sunderland’s relegation.
"Conte wouldn't have kept Sunderland up"
Harry @Redknapp says foreign managers are 'no better' than English counterparts: pic.twitter.com/QOvdLoCTdy
— BBC 5 Live Sport (@5liveSport) May 9, 2017
“It ain’t difficult to manage some of the top teams, when you’ve got fantastic players it’s the easiest job in the world,” Redknapp told BBC 5 Live on Tuesday.
“It’s when you’re trying to stay in the division like David Moyes this year, he’s gone to Sunderland.
“I knew Sunderland would get relegated at the start of the year and that’s not David’s fault. He took over a squad that had struggled for five years running.
“Bought no good players, they are going to go down this year, sure enough.
“It doesn’t matter who would have gone in there. David Moyes is a top manager. You could have put Conte in there and he wouldn’t have kept Sunderland up either.”
Simply put, there are levels of managers and they don’t really come much better than Conte, who has three Serie A titles and two Italian Super Cups to his name from his time with Juventus.
Moyes, by contrast, has won what was then called the Football League Second Division with Preston in 2000 and the Community Shield during his ill-fated period as Manchester United manager.
It’s very possible that Sunderland would have gone down with Conte in charge but one would imagine that he would have done a better job than Moyes. That seems to be the overriding sentiment among fans anyway.
https://twitter.com/myfootballtrial/status/861872662410407936
Harry Redknapp is a complete and utter fucking imbecile.
— Justin Walker (@Kingjustin10) May 9, 2017
Harry Redknapp is losing the small bit of credibility he has left by the day with some of his quotes
— Dyl (@DylThomasMcD) May 9, 2017
Absolute nonsense from Redknapp who’s usually spot on https://t.co/183Y6x7zT9
— #NoBeardGang (@AmpliaLaFamilia) May 9, 2017
@5liveSport @Redknapp Moyes would have won the league with Chelsea then?
— Andy (@ajf01923) May 9, 2017
@5liveSport @Redknapp Utter bollocks as usual from arry. Allardyce would have kept us up.
— PK (@eshmackem) May 9, 2017
@5liveSport @Redknapp I have to say this is total rubbish from Harry
— Seni Alabede (@King_seni) May 9, 2017
@5liveSport @Redknapp Deluded. Italian and Spanish managers r the best in the business. Have won more European trophies than English managers. Simple. FACT.
— ChelseaBoy España (@chelsboytweets) May 9, 2017
Redknapp saying foreign managers aren’t any better than English ones. Pretty sure Spurs are way better now than they were under him ?
— Bradley Parker (@parker_bradley) May 9, 2017
@5liveSport @chris_sutton73 @Redknapp If top 4 was easy than why didnt moyes and lvg succeed at man utd, rodgers at liverpool and hodgon at liverpool?
— TP (@IceT2k16) May 9, 2017
@5liveSport @chris_sutton73 @Redknapp Yet ONLY ‘foreign’ managers have managed championship winning teams in the last 25 years in England.
— degsy (@degsy76) May 9, 2017
@5liveSport @chris_sutton73 @Redknapp that’s why so many English managers have won the premiership, oh wait, shut up Harry
— Niall Lynch (@nlynch18) May 9, 2017
@5liveSport @chris_sutton73 @Redknapp Talking out of his arse with the window down.
— PeterC (@Coopswords) May 9, 2017
@5liveSport @chris_sutton73 @Redknapp I’m sorry but he’s talking crap.
— Andrew Iddon (@Andy_Iddon) May 9, 2017
@5liveSport @Redknapp @Redknapp @ManUtd Put Moyes in charge of the champions and look what happened so your theory is slightly flawed
— Tony Williams (@tonywilliams68) May 9, 2017
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