DAVID MOYES has issued a frank assessment of Sunderland’s perilous position by admitting there is likely to be a huge summer of change at the Stadium of Light regardless of what division they find themselves in.

The Black Cats are heading fast for the Championship after winning just one of their last 13 Premier League matches. The team’s awful form has left them ten points adrift of safety with eight matches remaining.

Relegation would be an expensive exercise and a massive cost-cutting job would have to be done, although Moyes admits even staying up would lead to massive changes before the start of next season.

The club’s owner Ellis Short has already looked to reduce costs and, even away from the playing staff, there are redundancies planned as they look to trim the debts built up from years of over-spending.

Asked if he would have money to spend in the summer to oversee the changes required, Moyes said: “I have always got to preface everything by saying I hope we are in the Premier League but if we go down, we will be a lot of players short.

“I have not got to the discussion yet. Personally I have looked at the squad and what the numbers will be like. That would be the case whatever league we are in. Obviously, it is going to need refinancing and looking at. I am waiting to find out what that will be in time.”

Moyes still thinks Sunderland can stay in the top-flight, but knows an unlikely revival could rest on leading his team to three points against Manchester United tomorrow.

He said: “It’s part of the rebuilding of the club and hopefully we are in the Premier League to do it. That has to be the first priority. But if we are not in it, we have to find a way of getting things picked up.

“We were short of players last summer, again in January and we will be short again at the end of the season because we have a lot of players out of contract. Whatever league we are in, that will be the case.

“We will have to work really hard on recruiting and some of that will need finance. Some of that will be boys we have to pick up on free transfers.”

The bleak words are something Sunderland’s supporters will have to get used to by the looks of the club’s worrying position, both financially and at the foot of the table. He would like a change in make-up to his squad anyway.

Moyes added: “I would like it to be a lot from players who understand this region and this part of the world. I would love to say I could actually fulfil that but I cannot promise to do that.

“That would be my aim to do it. I think this region is more suited to British-type players if it can be done. But again, I cannot guarantee that because I can see what has happened over the years and it is not for the want of having the players or finances to get them.

“That would be my picture. That should be the starting point for this club – to get back to those sort of basic roots and start from there.

“British players are suited to that and the people who have been brought up in the area are used to it so it is not too big a shock to come to the North East. It is a really good place.

“I think there have been a lot who have come in from overseas and it has not been quite as easy to settle as it might be for those who know this part of the world.”

Moyes has only spent the last nine months trying to lead Sunderland to brighter times, albeit unsuccessfully so far. He has quickly learned, though, that it is harder to attract players than he thought.

He said: “I think London is the capital of English football along with Manchester and because of that, if it is between us and a club from there, it will always attract the player.

“They will win out because of the region but it does not mean to say that we should not change tack. I think we should try to get what we can and attract the best players to the club we possibly can.

“If you look at a club like Swansea, they have spent big money on Llorente and Eibar. So they probably use their biggest spend on players from abroad.”

But he is not prepared to give up on the challenge, and doesn’t want the fans to either. Moyes, who reported no fresh injury problems ahead of the visit of his former club Manchester United, said: “It is easily solved – by winning. That normally comes from having the right players.

“You are asking questions that I am sure you have asked half a dozen managers before me.

“I have done the work I have had to do with the players. We played Watford and Leicester and now we have Manchester United so it is part of the job. You have hard weeks.

“If we were winning, everything would be much easier. People who are not winning are the ones who are struggling, even more so now. And we are struggling just now.”