Jan Kirchhoff opens up on devastating Sunderland relegation and reveals what he really thought of David Moyes

Sam Allardyce signed Kirchhoff in the 2016 January transfer window from Bayern Munich and despite an awful debut away at Tottenham Hotspur, the defensive midfielder went on to play a key role in keeping Sunderland in the top flight that season.

But it turned sour the following campaign when the Black Cats were relegated from the top flight, then suffering back-to-back relegations to League One.

In a wide-ranging piece in The Athletic, which charts the club’s downfall over recent seasons, Kirchhoff reflected on staying up under Big Sam: “We all felt like we’d created something we could build upon.

“That we were able to stay in the Premier League, perform in it, and might even be able to attack the top-10 teams. All of us felt like we had a great future.”

Sadly that didn’t happen, Allardyce got the England job and was replaced in the dugout at the Stadium of Light by David Moyes, who openly admitted in the first couple of weeks of the season that Sunderland could be facing a relegation battle again.

Kirchhoff added: “The players who had been there weren’t unhappy but we could see the quality wasn’t as high as the season before.

“Personally, I never re-found my self-confidence. My position changed, my team-mates changed around me and it didn’t feel like it was before.

“It wasn’t any one specific fault. Football is like a big puzzle and the pieces have to fit.”

He added: “The surroundings around the club turned quite negative.

“Our manager said quite early on in the season that it was going to be hard for us to stay in the league. It felt like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“I think the fans felt the same.

“We’d all been waiting for the moment. It wasn’t one game that broke our neck.

“In the dressing room, heads were down. I remember people almost crying, staring. It’s hard. You don’t know what to do. It was the worst case for Premier League footballers. Other things come in, too. You know people will lose their jobs at the club. You just want to get away from it.”

Kirchhoff left following relegation to the Championship.

“I’d made the decision earlier: I don’t want to work under these circumstances, with this manager. I felt like it was over; not the place for me, I just didn’t feel well.

“It wasn’t right, the way we played football. I didn’t get on with David Moyes. The system he wanted to play, I didn’t understand really. I didn’t understand his views of football and he didn’t understand mine.”

Despite the relegation, Kirchhoff speaks highly of the club, describing it as “really familiar, friendly” “I felt welcome and part of a great club” and he hopes one day soon the Black Cats will climb back up the league pyramid.

He added: “I personally felt the best in that half-year under Sam, so I have really strong feelings for the club. I hope it somehow brings back its energy.

“Today? I feel sorry almost. I don’t know if that’s the right word.”