WHAT next for David Moyes? What next for Ellis Short? And what next for Sunderland? Three big questions requiring big answers at the Stadium of Light.

Confirmation that Championship football will return to Wearside after ten years may have been confirmed a couple of weeks earlier, but there is still huge uncertainty about the bigger issues that will ultimately shape the club’s future.

Moyes isn’t wanted by a large number of Sunderland fans, they have made that perfectly clear.

He may have been the manager the majority wanted when Sam Allardyce left last summer, but he certainly isn’t now.

The vibe has been there for a while, the difference this time was that Ellis Short, the club’s owner, was in the directors’ box to witness first-hand the negative feeling towards Moyes.

The former Everton and Manchester United boss didn’t even feel he could walk into the centre circle with his players to acknowledge the fans after the final whistle had blown on another sorry defeat – the 24th of the season – to Swansea City.

He trudged straight down the tunnel knowing full well what would have arrived if he had braved it, even if there were hardly any supporters left by then anyway.

Moyes said: “The fans have shown their disappointment with me and I didn’t want to make it worse. I got straight down the tunnel. The reason this is a great football club is because of the supporters, but we are all embarrassed and disappointed.

“My future is the same as it was. Everyone can see we need to make big improvements and changes. I hopefully hear and understand (from Short) a bit more after we meet again in a week’s time.”

While Moyes has come under fire for his negative comments since taking over and his inability to conjure up another escape from relegation as his predecessors did, Sunderland’s future will not be solely determined by what happens to him.

The issues are far wider and, still, there has been no word from Short about his own intentions. The American has offered no clarification on what his plans are, given how widely known it is that he has tried to sell the club over the last year.

Debts are still well in excess of £110m after posting a loss of £33m in their previous set of accounts, so it is difficult to envisage a buyer coming along and taking on that following relegation to the Championship.

Sunderland’s financial situation will make it harder for Moyes, or whoever is in charge, to reshape a squad in readiness to attack the Championship. It’s a different and more competitive league since they were last there in 2007.

Moyes has already outlined to Short what he thinks is required, so he has had plenty to think about ahead of their next scheduled meeting in a week when the manager’s future will be decided.

He said: “I think everyone’s aware of how much is needed. I think everyone’s aware it needs turning around and things altered. We’ll do everything we can to make that happen.”

After defeating Hull City at the KCOM Stadium a week earlier, Moyes had hoped his players would have been confident enough to follow that up by winning the final home game of the season. It never materialised.

Swansea City, backed by 3,000 supporters who had their tickets and food paid for by the players and club, rewarded their followers with a victory that earned them another year in the top-flight following Hull City’s defeat at Crystal Palace yesterday.

From the moment the Swans opened the scoring in the ninth minute there was no way back for Sunderland, who just went through the motions and looked every bit a team already condemned to relegation.

Jordan Pickford, who has had a brilliant first full season in the top tier and will attract big-money bids this summer, was at fault for the opener. He raced off his line unnecessarily to try to punch Gylfi Sigurdsson’s superb delivery.

Pickford failed to connect and Fernando Llorente was on hand to flick his header into the empty net to give Swansea the lead. Sunderland’s players looked beaten there and then.

Jermain Defoe – who along with Vito Mannone appeared to say his farewells at the end – was denied by Lukasz Fabianski later in the half, but that was about as close as Sunderland came to equalising before Swansea added the second.

Wahbi Khazri, a replacement for Victor Anichebe, who hobbled off through injury, allowed Kyle Naughton to charge undetected into the penalty area and the full-back powered a finish inside the far post in first-half stoppage time.

After that Sunderland saw plenty of the ball after the restart and created more of the chances, although in truth that was largely down to Swansea being satisfied with a lead they knew they had to hold on to.

Moyes, asked whether his players struggled for motivation, replied: “I think the players should get motivated themselves, but our performance the previous week, you wouldn’t think it was anything to do with motivation.

“We went into the Swansea game quite high off a good result and I thought we made a couple of chances but ultimately the first goal makes it difficult. There was nothing shouted in the first ten minutes or so when we were in the game and doing OK.”

But Moyes does not see any reason to feel let down by his players’ effort. He said: “I would never label it on the players but it’s ultimately got to be seen that we need to make changes of personnel to alter what we’re doing because it’s not been good enough.

“Recently I don’t think you could question the character and I don’t think in many of the games (you could).

“In truth I think they had three attempts at goal on target all game and they scored two. I think it was that we conceded a really poor first goal which made for a difficult afternoon.”

With seven players out of contract and three loan deals expiring, the chances are that many of the players who appeared against Swansea will not play again in a red and white shirt. Before that, though, they must try to perform in away games at Arsenal and Chelsea.

Moyes said: “It’s a really tough period. It’s not fun in this position and it would be the same for any manager who’s been relegated.”