AS SUNDERLAND’S search for a new manager goes on, Gus Poyet has revealed how he was completely unaware that he was going to be sacked at the Stadium of Light seven months ago.

The Uruguayan lost his job as the Black Cats head coach after a 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa which significantly increased relegation concerns on Wearside.

But Poyet did still not expect to be out of work when he was told of the decision, but he holds no grudges for the way it happened and has had to accept owner Ellis Short’s decision to let him go.

“Unlike Brendan Rodgers whose situation was played out in the media (at Liverpool), I had no real idea that I was going to lose my Sunderland job until the day it happened,” said Poyet.

“We’d lost 4-0 at home to Aston Villa, with all four goals coming in the first half. The mood was bad in the stadium, the result terrible, though we were still 17th and not in the relegation zone.

“I went to work on Monday morning as usual. A few people close to me asked: ‘Are you having a meeting today?’ That was the first inkling that it wasn’t going to be a normal day.

“A meeting followed soon after at the training ground. Sunderland’s chief executive, secretary and solicitor were there.

“I was dialled into the club’s American owner, Ellis Short. There were no pleasantries, there was no need. I was told that my contract was being terminated.

“It sounds hard and brutal, but it was done in a professional way. I have no complaints and only respect for those people I worked with. I then had a private chat with Short and went to my office.”

Poyet, writing in his column for Yahoo Sport, was replaced by Dick Advocaat, who turned Sunderland around in the final nine games of the season to keep the team in the Premier League.

And the former Brighton boss, who says he has had a few calls and offers to get back in to management, feels not all of the players inside the Sunderland dressing room were sad to see him go when he did.

“As my brain absorbed the news, I took a shower, got changed and gathered my few belongings,” he stated. “The players were away, but the club called the captain John O’Shea and passed me the phone to tell him. It was a convivial phone call and we wished each other well. He would tell the players.

“Over the next few days, some players – but not all – would text to wish me well. That’s normal; I’ve been a player too and I’m not stupid enough to think that everyone was sad to see me go.

“Then I went to say goodbye to the people at the club, the canteen girls or groundsmen who I saw every day. That was hard, but more awkward for them. They didn’t know what to say to me, so I tried to make it easier for them and said ‘it’s football’.”

Poyet was talking after a week when both Sunderland and Liverpool are looking for new managers after the departures of Advocaat and Rodgers.

Short, the Sunderland owner, has been putting together a list of names to work to and it is understood that Sam Allardyce remains at the forefront of his thinking.