'Bring him in!': Sunderland legends and fans urge Stewart Donald to make a big decision

Fans called for Phil Parkinson’s head towards the end of the defeat, and echoed similar sentiments on social media.

Here’s what they said:

Former Sunderland striker Stephen Elliott said: “Had chance to make a statement in this league when JR went by appointing some1 who would have brought aura to club and put a bit of excitement in the city but instead appointed somebody who players will prob walk all over and plays a horrible style of football. Owners fault imo”

Julio Arca then added: “Owners been saying what the fans wanted to heard since day one, drinking with the fans in the stand don’t make u a good chairman. Finally the fans now realised why they are there for but I think is too late. That club need massive changes in every area”@ianhigh1 commented: “Bad appointment without a doubt but that set of players deserve an awful lot of criticism. Their response to Burtons second goal was appalling.”

@knowledgeisall tweeted: “Last two games have been horrendous. Certainly the worst Sunderland side I've ever seen and the decisions from the board have been littered with mistake after mistake, year upon year. The team and the club have no direction and no clue what to do.”

@KiranSavage added: “Remember when fans were laughing at Portsmouth at the start of the season..... they’re now above us! Embarrassing! And unfortunately, the owners must take the blame for poor decision making”

Ex-Black Cat Michael Gray said: “So dont tell me about experienced managers no more... get Kev Phillips in... what have we got to lose...! Lampard did ok, gerrard too.. so why not Kev??? Give the whole place a lift”

@DavidJonesSky replied: “Micky’s right. You can’t pick Sunderland managers on logic ... it’s about personality, charisma, taking the fans with you ... arguably the same up the road too. Look at Reidy and Roy, the two most successful managers of the modern era ... lit a fire under the place”