Vito Mannone Believes Sunderland Players Should Reimburse Fans Following Southampton Beating

Former Sunderland boss Paolo Di Canio was interviewed on Sky Sports: Goals on Sunday yesterday and shared his thoughts on the Black Cats’ embarrassing 8-0 defeat to Southampton on Saturday. Di Canio commented that when he played, he would “punish himself” for such a performance and expressed that Sunderland’s players and coaches should “pay something”.

“It’s not as simple as you go to work the next day and work harder because that has to be the minimum you do, the normal thing. I don’t know about financial [punishment]; but in general you say ‘lads, look at our faces – tomorrow morning we get up early, go together, watch the game, feel pain,'” Di Canio said.

“It’s not enough to say ‘we’re sorry and sad’; you have to pay something. What are we going to do? Try to put some strict rules in place that help us so we don’t repeat this sort of thing.”

It appears Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone was listening to that interview and took his former manager’s words….literally.

Mannone believes he and his teammates should reimburse all the club’s fans who made the long journey to St Mary’s on Saturday.

Sunderland supporters continued to cheer for their players until the final whistle and the goalkeeper says he wants to me the costs of the 700-mile away day for the 2,500 Black Cats fans who made the trip.

“I will personally talk to the team to see if it is possible to pay for their tickets and their trip,” Mannone said.

“I really mean that we should pay their travel and tickets. I will do everything possible. We should do it because we didn’t put a foot in, we didn’t work hard. We started the game well but after we conceded we threw in the towel and I include myself.”

“It is difficult for us but it’s very difficult for them as well. It is a difficult moment. We will go through it during the week. We will have time. The Premier League is really difficult. We have a tough game again at home, so there is no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We need to react.”

“As I said they are special fans. We are really lucky to be at this club and have these fans. If it was me, I would probably not react in the same way.”

To view Paolo Di Canio’s interview with Goals on Sunday go to: http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/15131/9524196/coach-and-players-must-pay-after-defeat-like-sunderlands-8-0-drubbing-says-di-canio#ooid=Z0YmM3cTq4Xb_1q55S7d0ARZHgSW_uKD