Who is he? Is he for real? Is their any substance in what he writes? This can't be real can it? I think we have a problem with the players but this has to be bullshit!!! Secret Footballer: 'Booze problem at Sunderland' Sunderland's Italian manager Paolo Di Canio reacts during the English Premier League football match between Sunderland and Fulham at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland, northeast England, on August 17, 2013© Getty Images By Liam Apicella, Features Editor Filed: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 16:42 UK Last Updated: Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 16:44 UK The Secret Footballer has insisted that there are "big problems" at Sunderland, many of which centre around alcohol. The Black Cats only just fought off the threat of relegation last term and no wins from their first five Premier League matches this season resulted in Paolo Di Canio being sacked earlier this week. Di Canio was heavily criticised for taking a hard line with the Sunderland squad, but The Secret Footballer, who is an alleged pseudonym of a Premier League player, has accused the players at the Stadium of Light of having a poor attitude and a "drinking culture". "There are problems at Sunderland â big problems. The squad simply aren't good enough on the pitch and, of even greater concern, they have too many players that do not have enough respect for the game," he said. "It is no secret in football circles that there is a drinking culture at Sunderland that extends right through the core of the team. I've witnessed it in full swing as I've been in the same places drinking with many of them. "I can vividly remember being in Marbella when one Sunderland player ordered a Nebuchadnezzar of champagne for £75,000. Seriously. A waiter bought it out on a trolley and it took three of them to pour it every time he wanted to top up his glass. "And last season, after the team had been hammered on the Saturday, a friend sent me a picture of half a dozen Sunderland first-team players all holding up cigarettes and pints of beer in a pub during an all-day session on the Sunday." Gus Poyet is the current favourite to replace Di Canio, although interim boss Kevin Ball is expected to take charge of Saturday's match against Liverpool. Hopefully one of you good people can put my mind a rest by reassuring me he has a track record of talking ****e.
there's no way this is going on. if it was we would have seen loads of pictures of our squad on the lash. everybody has camera on their phones these days and would be snapping left, right and centre
True Dat. Look at the Bardo pic, it was all over twitter within the hour. Cheers lads. There should be laws about publishing this ****.
it will just be some idiot on twitter trying to set himself up as some in the know when really he hasnt got a clue
whats the problem some on here think if you drink and smoke it does not affect you , look at some of the greats ,they point out with pride.
he seems like a bit of a dictator behind closed doors. its a real shame as i liked a lot of the stuff he was trying to do behind the schenes, just a shame he had a sledge hammer approach to man management
There were regularly pics of Bardlsey and Titus out on the lash, I remember last season they were out midweek in Manchester for Tulisas birthday when she was with Danny Simpson. Its no secret that Cattermole and Johnson were always on the drink. O'Neill was very slack with stuff like this apparently I do think that he's just cobbled a story together here though as we are a main news story atm.
Players car walking in scum land. Player drink driving in scum land. Player lying on floor of casino. Player up to court on alledged rape charges Player banned from NE pubs. That's of the top of my head.
I know someone who knows James McFadden, and he has said that out of all the clubs he has been at, Sunderland had the worst drinking culture he has ever come across. But that was last season, lets hope its stopped now.
If this is true then I hope we ask Paolo to come back on double his previous salary and finish the job that he started. If alcohol was effecting the performance at work of someone earning £500 per week then they would be given their P45 pretty quickly. If alcohol is effecting the performance at work of a professional athlete earning £50,000 per week then they should be shown the door even quicker. If a whole group of piss artists band together and go complaining about their boss trying to address the problem, then their boss should receive the full backing of his boss.
"I can vividly remember being in Marbella when one Sunderland player ordered a Nebuchadnezzar of champagne for £75,000. Seriously. A waiter bought it out on a trolley and it took three of them to pour it every time he wanted to top up his glass." Hasn't he heard. Our lot never make it to Europe.
