Wise Men Say: Time to call it a day, Mr Short

Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Everton have all come and ripped us apart in recent years.

I’m not sure if the Arsenal reverse was a humiliation too far, it all feels very familiar. It’s numbing and apathy is very much setting in.

Of those other three results listed above, two of them came under different managers to the one we have now.

The players are generally different. How can the same thing keep happening, regardless of personal?

There is one consistent factor and that is the owner.

I have a lot of respect for Ellis Short and some of the things he’s done for our football club.

He’s bought into the city and the people. Niall Quinn wouldn’t have handed over the keys to the American had he not felt it appropriate to do so.

He’s invested a lot of his own money to try and make us a force in the Premier League. Unfortunately, we sit here 10 years in to our most recent top-flight stint and we have nothing to show for it.

Short has backed his managers. Yes, some would argue we’ve had far too many.

I believe Ellis has sacked the men at the right time in nearly every case. Di Canio probably should have gone earlier.

Millions have been spent with little in return in terms of results on the pitch and off it.

We’ve seen massive fees go on players and we’ve got little or nothing back on their exit from the club. We’re probably still paying the wages of some who are no longer here too.

We’re circling the plug hole now and there’s probably not a thing Ellis can do about it.

It’s not as simple as just throwing more money at it. Even if Short dug into his own pockets, rules and financial restrictions probably mean we can’t spend it.

The fact our squad was so obviously short of bodies and quality come deadline day and we did little to strengthen tells you all you need to know.

I wouldn’t be getting my hopes up for January either, unless we make some money on players like Jordan Pickford and Lamine Kone.

We keep hearing about a long-term plan, it would be nice to know what it is. Does it involve us dropping into the Championship?

I can’t imagine it did at the start of the season. If it didn’t. then the plan looks to be unraveling again after just 10 league fixtures.

David Moyes’ dour demeanour won’t be helping his cause with Sunderland fans after a string of diabolical results and performances.

More money wasted. We were told the strength of the benches were the difference on Saturday, yet six of the seven on ours were brought to the club by the manager.

We’re already looking at a miracle, probably greater than Poyet’s, with 28 matches remaining.

Will changing the manager make a difference now? Can we even afford to? Probably not.

I think the time has come for Ellis to actively look to sell Sunderland AFC. It would also be good to hear from him – he needs to answer many of the questions supporters have for him.

If he doesn’t then the relationship between the club and the fans is going to deteriorate beyond repair.

Thanks, Mr Short, but I think it’s time to go.

* The Wise Men Say podcast is available from every Monday, with SAFC debate from a variety of guests and post-match reaction. You can stream it direct from wisemensay.co.uk or subscribe to it on iTunes