'Not my cup of tea': League One owner weighs-in on Phil Parkinson sacking - and has this Sunderland takeover theory

Parkinson was dismissed on Sunday with the Black Cats now hunting for their third permanent manager since dropping into League One.

Sunderland were perched in eighth when they opted to make a managerial change, and MacAnthony says he won’t judge the club’s hierarchy for making the call having done previously in the past.

And he had a number of theories as to why Parkinson may have been dismissed – ranging from the impending takeover to a style of play which he admits isn’t exactly to his liking.

Speaking to his Hard Truth podcast, MacAnthony said: “That could be a couple of things.

“I guess if Sunderland are in that period of talking to somebody to buy the club, which they are from what I've read in the paper, sometimes when you're buying a club you could do as part of the deal that the manager has to be fired before I arrive.

“It saves you looking like the hatchet person. If I'm buying a club and I don't like the manager, I'll say to the owner 'look, do me a favour. He has to go. So get rid of him before I take over, or I'm not taking over.'

“That could be one reason.

“Another reason could be pressure from the fans, I don't know. But there's no fans at the stadium, so are you following social media?

“Another reason could be they're bad to watch. I don't know, I don't watch Sunderland games.

“We played them and they were good. We were better, but they won the game.

“I'm not going to judge anyone because we've done it before and sacked a manager when we were sixth.

“I know Phil Parkinson has a certain DNA, a way of playing, and it's not my cup of tea - but it works for some teams.”

Sunderland are continuing to assess potential replacements for Parkinson, with Danny Cowley, Paul Cook and Nigel Pearson among the favourites with the bookmakers.

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