Chris Coleman takes his first training session at Sunderland and demands of players 'are you in or are you out?'
Chris Coleman took his first training session at Sunderland on Sunday and threw down the gauntlet to an underachieving group of players, saying: "I will find out pretty quickly who is in and who is out."
The manager's job at the North East side has come to look like one of the hardest in football and many have questioned why Coleman would leave Wales to take it on.
The former Swansea, Crystal Palace and Fulham player had enjoyed considerable success managing his national side, memorably guiding them to the semi-finals of Euro 2016.
Although Wales had failed to qualify for the World Cup, the country's Football Association were keen for him to stay and met with him Friday.
But Coleman said there had been a difference of opinion about the way forward.
"Having achieved what we'd achieved, I thought to take it on to the next level I needed to work slightly differently. And the powers that be in Wales saw it differently to me," he told the Sunderland website.
"In my experience it was the right time for me to say, 'OK, that's as far as I'm going to take it'."
Even so, it was surprise when Coleman agreed to join the club who are bottom of the Championship. However, Coleman has stressed how impressed he has been with his new digs.
"I'm quite sure managers before me have said the same thing, but it really is all in place except what happens on the pitch and we've got to make sure we get that right."
Coleman is Sunderland's ninth manager in the last six seasons and replaces Simon Grayson, who was sacked at the end of last month.
The 47-year-old, who has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal, takes over a club in crisis, with Saturday's 2-2 draw against Millwall giving them an unwanted English record of 20 consecutive home games without a win.
Coleman led his first training session on Sunday morning and will be in charge of the side for the first time for Tuesday's trip to Aston Villa.
He said: "Someone's going to turn this club around. Whether it's me or whether it's the next one, sooner or later this club will start climbing again, start playing in front of a full house again, get the city rocking and rolling. I want that to be me, of course.
"You can go through your career as a manager and never manage a big club. I always wanted to have that experience of managing a big club, and here I am."
"All right, we're bottom of the league. Deal with it, get on with it. It is going to be a big challenge and I haven't got a magic idea that's going to turn it around like [clicks fingers].
"I'm going to need all the supporters, all the staff, the players, everybody to come with me. It's such a big club that, when we gather momentum, it's pretty hard to slow it down, but the start's always the toughest part.
"I'll find out pretty quickly I think who's really in and who's not, and whoever's not needs to go and play football somewhere else. It's a little bit daunting, but that keeps you on your toes."
