The kids are alright, says Sunderland caretaker boss Robbie Stockdale

Posted Sunday, May 06, 2018 by PA

Caretaker Robbie Stockdale claims Sunderland’s youngsters provide a reason to be positive after the Black Cats rounded off their miserable season with a surprise 3-0 win over Championship title winners Wolves.

League One-bound Sunderland ended the game with six academy players on the pitch at the Stadium of Light, with 20-year-old Luke Molyneux having made his first senior start and Elliot Embleton, Denver Hume and Bali Mumba all coming off the substitutes’ bench in the second half.

Stockdale, who was first-team coach prior to the departure of Chris Coleman, faces an uncertain future, with prospective new owner Stewart Donald expected to make a number of changes in an attempt to cut costs.

But the caretaker boss is confident Sunderland’s academy products are capable of beginning the process of turning the club around.

Stockdale said: “It made me proud that some of them were lads that came through the youth system when I was coaching there. It was a proud moment for the football club.

“There’s a lot of hard work that goes into developing young players, and there would have been more involved if they were fit.

“But I’ve got to say that although I was really proud, and although it was a really good moment for the club, the attitude of the loan players and the senior players was also really good. The environment they created was great.

“John O’Shea epitomises what a professional footballer should be. His brilliance around the training ground, and on the pitch he’s always organising. The mix of senior and younger players was really good.”

Stockdale was aware of Donald’s presence in an executive box and hopes the former chairman of Eastleigh, whose takeover is awaiting formal ratification from the Football League, was impressed by what he witnessed.

He said: “I think we made the best out of it. It’s been a tough week. It’s been difficult, and obviously the players have been distracted with other things, we all have.

“But the message I had to them before they went on was, ‘If someone was here watching you for the first time, what impression would you want to leave them with?’

“That went for the older players as well as the younger ones. I think if anybody did watch us for the first time, there were some positive things to say about our team.”

Wolves crashed to their joint-heaviest defeat of the campaign, during which they beat every Championship team except Sunderland, and their manager Nuno Espirito Santo admitted his players had badly underperformed.

He said: “It was a bad game. We were not as intense as we should have been, and that is why we lost. A lot of things have been happening, and we were promoted a long time ago.

“We wanted to push for a victory and our fans were there, but the game did not go well. It is not a question now of looking at it too deeply, although I think we should have done better.

“I cannot take anything away from my boys though. What they have achieved is fantastic. We have finished as champions and we did everything that we wanted to. They should all be very proud.”