Simon Grayson makes Sunderland 'Til I Die and Jack Rodwell claim as Netflix releases third series

Former Sunderland boss Simon Grayson says Jack Rodwell was made a scapegoat during the first series of Netflix's Sunderland 'Til I Die.

The popular sports documentary has returned for a third season this week, covering the Black Cats' promotion from League One. Yet the first installment, which was filmed during Grayson's spell at the club, captured Sunderland's relegation to the third tier during a dismal 2017/18 campaign.

"It wasn't the right moment to have the cameras around as it was a tough time in general for Sunderland," said Grayson, speaking to Bitcoin Casinos when reflecting on the show's first season. "I believe they had tried to film the documentary a year earlier but David Moyes stopped it from happening. When I arrived from Preston it was already agreed that they were going to follow us that season. 

"If you're the production company I guess there was no better season to have it, though. You either want a season which ends in promotion to the Premier League or a relegation with two managers being sacked and all the turmoil that was going on. You don't want mid-table mediocrity.

"It can be intimidating at times. It was made at a time when being the manager of Sunderland was very difficult in itself and the cameras being there probably made it twice as bad. It had a negative impact on the players, the dressing room, and the atmosphere around the club. The Stadium of Light was a tricky place to play at the time, too. I guess it will go down in the history books, though, and everybody involved can use it as an experience going forward if it is thrust upon them again."

Former Sunderland midfielder Jack Rodwell was heavily criticised following the first season of Sunderland 'Til I Die, when he was the only player in the squad not to have a wage reduction written into his contract following relegation to the Championship. The player was then recorded laughing about not playing during a scene in the treatment room on the Netflix show. "It was really difficult. We brought in around £50 or £60 million from selling players, but only spent something like £1.2 million on 12 new signings," added Grayson when reflecting on the start of the 2017/18 season. "It was a sign that there was no real determination to get promoted at the first time of asking. It was a really difficult place to be. There were players that were desperate to leave the club and some did but others didn't.

"Supporters were blaming players for not taking pay cuts when they supposedly should have done. I did a Q&A once and somebody asked me about Jack Rodwell, but I reversed the question and asked how many people there would have taken a 50 per cent wage reduction when you didn't have to? As I thought, nobody put their hands up, so why should Jack have to do that? He was a bit of a scapegoat at the time, even if his performances didn't warrant the money he was being paid on occasion."