McCarthy departure leads to Murray apology

Sunderland today put Mick McCarthy out of his misery when they sacked him with the club hurtling back towards the Coca Cola Championship.

Yesterday’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester City, in which the Black Cats were beaten almost before they started when Georgios Samaras fired the home side into a 2-0 lead within 10 minutes of kick-off, proved the final straw for chairman Bob Murray.