Sunderland boss Gus Poyet calls players out for a 'bonding' dinner ahead of grudge match against Newcastle

Besides points in their kitty, there is one element that is missing and there for everyone to see at Sunderland Football Club – team spirit.

In an effort to counter precisely that, new manager Gus Poyet has ordered all his players out for a ‘team bonding dinner’ ahead of their derby clash this weekend with Newcastle United. The Tyne-Wear derby is one of the most intense and vengeful in English football and Poyet’s predecessor Paolo Di Canio, despite having a largely uninspiring tenure at the Stadium of Light managed a crucial win over Newcastle last season.

Poyet revealed that he was aware of the issues at hand and was trying to work out ways of addressing them.

“I don’t want to have a heart attack or lose my hair being here.”

“The longer this goes I will probably go bald, because of the way I am.”

“I want to be able to enjoy a Sunday night with my family, have a nice meal and talk about how good this was, a goal, or the action, or whatever.”

The fact that such a bonding session had to be organized to infuse some spirit into the team shows how far down things have fallen in the Sunderland dressing room. The Black Cats lie bottom of the table with just one point against their name and will need to pick themselves up after the 4-0 drubbing that they received at the hands of Swansea last weekend as they go into a high-pressure and high stakes North-East derby game against Newcastle. A win in a fixture of this magnitude may just prove to be the catalyst to kick-start their campaign.

Following the sacking of Italian Di Canio, the Sunderland squad is said to be in the worst possible mental make up with their confidence shot and players mentally scarred thanks to the former manager’s fractious reign.

Poyet even went on to explain the logic behind the decision to go for a meal as a team.

“The meal was my decision. I used to do it myself as a player. I didn’t see it happening here, so I did it.”

”The manager goes once. After that, they don’t want him there.”

”I think it’s important. We need to spend time together, talk about things. I think it should be regular but I will not be involved any more after this. It will be up to the players.”

“Sometimes, you know a player better when you know something about his life – How’s your wife, how’s your family?”

“Sometimes in this situation you learn plenty. Oh, and there are 14 new players. I said I would pick up the bill – I am lucky the club backed me up on this one.”

“It is not about having a laugh. It is about getting together. I cannot ask the fans and the club to be together and us, the main ones, not to be together. We need to be together.”

(Quotes courtesy: The Metro)