MICK McCARTHY would rather pin his faith in the Sunderland players already at his disposal than bring in a 'fancy-dan tart' who is unwilling to show the fight to pull off an unlikely escape.

Having already signed his two allowed players from the English Premiership on loan, McCarthy knows if he is to draft anyone in on a temporary basis during January they will have to be from abroad.

But, with the club's depressing plight hardly the most attractive proposition to possible targets, the Sunderland boss realises bringing new men in during the transfer window could prove to be difficult.

One target, who McCarthy did not name, has already shunned the possibility of arriving on Wearside after considering Sunderland's position at the foot of the league table.

And, whether it is the same man or not, he is also known to have been spurned in his advances for Ajax's Greek striker Angelos Charisteas.

But the Sunderland boss insists he is ready to hand his current playing staff the opportunity to turn the mess they are in around, instead of adding new faces who may not show the same determination.

"I've already had the knock-back from one player who said he didn't want to be in the dogfight," said McCarthy. "It might be a recurring theme and I don't want them here if that's the case.

"At times we might lack experience or make a few mistakes and could have had a bit more quality, but they'll never give up, the lads here, and they won't lack effort or fight.

"I'm not going to bring anyone here who is going to take a place of somebody who is scrapping, kicking and fighting every week and replace him with some fancy-dan tart who thinks he can come in and play.

"We're in a scrap, you've got to be aggressive. If you're not aggressive about it then we might as well pack the job in. Anybody who doesn't want to come, then they can sod off.

"It's not just foreign players, it's anyone who doesn't want to scrap. You never know, though, I'm not saying never (to foreign players) but you might have one who wants to come in, have a scrap and prove himself in the Premier League. Whether you're down at the bottom or not it helps if you have that experience of English football."

But it is the fact McCarthy has already used his allotted loans from English clubs that has left the former Republic of Ireland boss assessing his options on the continent.

Ideally he would love to unearth another gem as he did two years ago, when he took Stewart Downing to the Stadium of Light before the winger took the Premiership by storm with Middlesbrough.

McCarthy has reassured supporters, who recently voted in a couple of separate polls to keep him in his job, that he will be doing everything in a bid to turn things around.

And he feels, despite Sunderland being 11 points shy of safety and having lost ten matches on the spin, that the fans will eventually have something to celebrate again - even if it is not until next season.

"Do you know what I'm doing at the moment? Everything I possibly can. No stone unturned," said McCarthy, ahead of Boxing Day's visit of Bolton, which will be Sunderland's first game in 16 days. "I'd be a fool to say anything else.

"It was nice to get an endorsement from the fans, it was like the X-Factor or being in the Big Brother house.

"It was nice to be voted in rather than out. My coat was on a shaky nail, so it's nice to get that backing.

"I think you'll find the ones who've come to the games have not been booing en masse or trying to get me out. My endorsement is from the 2,000 who voted, thanks for voting.

"There are two ways of looking at it mind. Six out of ten like me, four out of ten think I'm a plonker. I don't know which ones to thank at the ground, let's hope I get another ringing endorsement after the Bolton game.

"If you keep getting slapped on the head it hurts more and more. You've got to recover and get on with it.

"You've got to keep believing. That's exactly what we are all trying to do here."

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