Moyes admits Sunderland doubts

David Moyes admits he might not have taken the Sunderland job had he known of the club's financial issues.

Sunderland chief executive Martin Bain told Moyes in recent weeks that he would have “very limited” funds during the January transfer window, with owner Ellis Short keen to sell up and not add to the club's £140m debt in the interim.

Moyes' predecessor Sam Allardyce spent £15m last January bringing in defensive midfielder Jan Kirchhoff, defender Lamine Kone and attacking midfielder Wahbi Khazri, all of whom made crucial contributions in helping the Black Cats beat the drop.

The Scot, whose Sunderland side lie bottom of the table, says he assumed that funds would be made available to strengthen in January.

"Sunderland always had an appeal to me, but if I had known about the situation I would have needed to look at it in a different way," Moyes said ahead of Saturday's game against Watford.

"I would have had to think a lot more about it, because at the end of the day I want to manage in the Premier League.

"I did not know the club could be going up for sale, I was not made aware of that before. I didn't see us having no money [in January]. Even in the summer I knew what we were spending was small in comparison — and I said that to the owner.

"But I hoped it would be a short period and we would then have the next period [January] to get things done. That has shown itself not to be the case.

"I'm disappointed that I will not be able to do some work in January and try and build on what we've done."

Photo (Getty Images/Ian MacNicol)

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