Sunderland flop Jon Stead still haunted over how he let Mick McCarthy down at the Stadium of Light

The 35-year-old, who now plays for Notts County in League Two, looks set to make his 550th league appearance this weekend, following permanent spells at Sheffield United, Ipswich, Bristol City and Huddersfield.

And ahead of this Saturday's home game against Crewe, Stead took part in a light-hearted quiz about his own career, in which he reflected on his time at Sunderland.

When asked which permanent manager he never scored under, the striker correctly answered Mick McCarthy and went on to say:

“I don’t have many regrets in life but how my career turned out when I first went to Sunderland, because he showed a lot of faith in me, Mick McCarthy."

Stead scored just two goals in 40 appearances for the Black Cats after signing for the club from Blackburn in 2005.

It took the striker 30 games to finally find the back of the net, against Everton on April Fools' Day, prompting a group of Sunderland fans to wear T-shirts with the slogan‘I saw Jon Stead score a goal’ printed on them.

Stead saw the funny side, but still feels he let the fans and his manager down during a barren 18-month spell, before he was sold to Sheffield United.

"He (McCarthy) was proper sound as well, a really nice guy and he’d chased me for 18 months and when I finally signed me I couldn’t hit a barn door," said the striker.

"That’s one of my regrets, I let him down a little bit. That still haunts me a little bit, that Sunderland time.“