Denver Hume opens up on rollercoaster campaign and reveals message from Sunderland boss Phil Parkinson

For Denver Hume, in his breakthrough season at Sunderland having established himself as first choice left-back, it has also been a rollercoaster to date.

It started badly, twice substituted at half-time before mid-September, but he bounced back strongly from that and is now a firm fixture in Phil Parkinson’s side.

Former boss Jack Ross was a big fan of Hume, the Scot sacked in October with Sunderland sixth in the table, results have dipped further under Parkinson with the club now 11th.

Hume is enjoying working under Parkinson, under-fire from supporters, and is relishing being a first team regular.

“There have been some highs for me and lows this season, and the results have been mixed,” said Hume.

“I just want to keep on playing and improving as a player.

“Looking back to the opening day of the season, it was tough for me.

“But you have those times as a player throughout the campaign.

“I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t let the negative performance get to me and I have tried my best to come back from it with positivity since.”

On Parkinson, Hume added: “The new manager has come in and helped me a lot.

“He is tactically different to the previous manager but he and his staff have worked closely with me and are helping me fine-tune my game.

“He really wants his full-backs to get forward and join in with the play and try to make the pitch as big as possible.

“He wants his full-backs and wingers to link up and get as many crosses in as possible,” he told the club programme.

Meanwhile, Sunderland are reportedly set to bolster their coaching staff with former Middlesbrough and Bolton Wanderers defender Andrew Taylor.

Taylor – who played under Parkinson at Bolton – has been looking to get into coaching since hanging up his boots this summer and Parkinson is set to give him the chance of launching his coaching career on Wearside.

The Hartlepool-born 33-year-old helped Bolton to promotion from League One under Parkinson.