Gus Poyet out to avoid another Leeds embarrassment

Gus Poyet admits being sent off when Sunderland last met Leeds United was his biggest embarrassment in football.

Apart from the Black Cats’ 8-0 thrashing at Southampton this season, that is!

His side face the Yorkshire outfit today for the first time in the FA Cup since the Wearsiders’ fairytale 1973 Final triumph over Don Revie’s illustrious XI.

But for Sunderland boss Poyet, the Third Round tie at the Stadium of Light is a reminder of Boxing Day, 2006.

That was when, as Leeds No 2, he was banished to the stand as Roy Keane’s Sunderland won 2-0 on Wearside in the Championship.

Poyet was right-hand man to Dennis Wise, his team-mate when Chelsea won the FA Cup against Aston Villa in 2000 in the last Final at the old Wembley.

And Poyet confessed: “It was frustration about a very unfair situation which happened before my sending-off.

“We were very poor that day. We had a chance to create a great opportunity and, for no reason, a ball appeared in the middle of the Sunderland box from one of the ball boys, and the referee stopped the action.

“So, at that moment, we thought it was a good idea to stop one of Sunderland’s actions, and then the ball was in my hands.

“No complaints, it was an embarrassing moment. It was a terrible action. I remember Dennis telling me: ‘Do it now’. I don’t think I could do it again because I don’t think it will happen again.

“The most embarrassing moment was the 8-0 against Southampton. The one with Leeds was just a moment of craziness.”

At the end of that season, Leeds were relegated to League One after going into administration.

Poyet recalled: “The next season, the most strange thing was we won five games in a row but, because we had points deducted, we got zero! We were on fire. We should have been top, but we were bottom.

“When Elland Road is full, and you are on fire, it is incredible. The Leeds teams I played against went on to play in the Champions League.

“They had everything a little bit of nastiness, pace, youth, quality, technical ability.

“When I was at Leeds, it was tough. The most difficult part of administration is not the club or supporters, it’s the people in the office.

“Nobody thinks about that. More than half the people working for Leeds lost their jobs and that was hard to take.”

And Poyet stressed: “Leeds are massive and I would like to see them back in the Premier League, no doubt. Sometimes I wonder why one of these incredibly wealthy people doesn’t buy Leeds.

“There has to be something really bad underneath there which none of us can see, because the potential is incredible.”

Poyet faced criticism last season for fielding a weakened side in an FA Cup quarter-final at Hull, a week after the Capital One Cup final defeat by Manchester City.

Any hope he had of becoming the first Sunderland boss to lead the club to Wembley twice in a season disappeared as Hull won 3-0.

But Poyet insisted: “We won’t do that, I promise you. I’ve got one or two defenders who have been playing at the limit. The other day, I nearly got a coin and said, ‘Wes or Santi (Wes Brown or Santiago Vergini)?’

“We need to be careful. For Santi to play on Sunday is going to be tough and Wes has no chance.”