David Moyes says it is wrong to criticise Sunderland’s mid-season trip to New York just days before job cuts were announced - and blames previous regimes for the financial state of the club.
As many as 90 staff have been told that their positions are at risk and voluntary redundancies have been invited, with up to half of that number expected to go.
However, the timing of the announcement came in the same week that Moyes and his squad returned from a five-day break in New York, angering some of those affected.
Chief executive Martin Bain - who arrived shortly before Moyes last summer - confirmed that he had undertaken a review of club operations and Sportsmail understands he was alarmed at how the business was being run, especially given the debt level of £140million.