SUNDERLAND’S pre-season trip to France got off to a traumatic start this morning – with the club’s players currently stranded at Manchester Airport.

New Sunderland boss David Moyes joined his players and staff on a flight from Newcastle Airport at just before 9am this morning, ahead of a planned week-long training camp at the French town of Evian-les-Bains, on the shores of Lake Geneva.

However, their plane developed a technical fault at an early stage of the flight, which forced the pilot to make an emergency landing at Manchester.

It had been hoped the repair could be fixed, but that proved impossible and the squad have been forced to wait for a replacement aircraft.

They should still arrive in France later today, and are still expected to play French side Stade Nyonnais in a friendly tomorrow.

A spokeswoman for Manchester Airport said the flight landed safely on the runway just after 11.20am.

They said: “It was a flight carrying the Sunderland football team.

“They had set off from Newcastle earlier and the aircraft was showing a technical failure so it was diverted to Manchester as a precaution.

“It landed safely and all passengers disembarked while safety checks were made.”