By Chris Wright
Sunderland ‘keeper Vito Mannone has posited that he and his beleaguered teammates should club together to reimburse the Black Cats fans who schlepped the entire length of the country only to watch their side get utterly dismantled by Southampton on Saturday afternoon.
Around 2,500 Sunderland fans made the 700-mile round trip to St. Mary’s only to watch their team lose 8-0 in forlorn fashion – though they could probably sense something was about to go terribly wrong when Santiago Vergini opened the scoring for Southampton with a world class, 18-yard volleyed own-goal.
Mannone told BBC Sport that he’s looking into getting the travelling fans their money back:
“I will personally talk to the team to see if it is possible to pay for their tickets and their trip.
“I really mean that we should pay their tickets and travel.”
“We should do it because we didn’t put a foot in, we didn’t work hard.
“We started the game well but after we conceded we threw in the towel and I include myself.
“It is difficult for us but it’s very difficult for them as well. It is a difficult moment.”
Too bloody right.
To be honest, we reckon those Sunderland fans have probably got grounds to do their “football team” under the Trades Descriptions Act if the squad don’t make haste and refund them in full.
‘Cos, let’s face it; that wasn’t football or anything close.