As chairman, I take responsibility for what has proven to be an unsuccessful and heartbreaking season. I feel deeply sorry that the excitement, optimism and aspirations of all Sunderland fans looking forward to a return to the Premier League has been rewarded in this way.

Obviously a club that struggles as badly as this one on the field for points there is going to be speculation about the manager and its way forward. I do not want to add to that speculation.

I don't know if this is a true measurement. We scored 45 points against a team that I think was in total disarray today. His kids didn't play well today. I think we're improving but I don't know if you can gauge it in a game like this.

I think they're doing whatever it takes for them to make a case for declaring impasse in hopes that they'll throw open the doors and see what happens from there. It's going to be an ugly, ugly process, and I think the game's going to get hurt terribly in the process.

Last year, we started a JV program and separated the JV from the varsity, ... I was able to concentrate on the varsity and that helped. That made the program.

I guess the more common approach has been, if they feel a guy has come in and isn't properly conditioned, they would bring him into camp and have him do extra work. We have disagreed with the suspension and are continuing to work at resolving it. Hopefully we can find a quick and amicable resolution.