Martin O’Neill was left devastated by Sunderland’s 2-0 FA Cup replay defeat at home to Bolton.
Sunderland have steered themselves away from the relegation fight in recent weeks and fought back from 2-0 down to earn a draw against Bolton at the Reebok.
Hopes were high that the club could go on an extended cup run to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1973 FA Cup win but those wishes came to a halt in front of 18,000 fans last night.
“This is a big club, I hope I’m not the only person who thinks this,” O’Neill stated. “We should not be spending 40 years without winning something, we really shouldn’t.
“Forty years is too long for this football club not to have won a trophy. It’s far, far too long. We enjoyed a really good run last season and were disappointed to lose to Everton, but that was a quarter-final.
“Here tonight, we had the opportunity to play Everton again, but we didn’t take it. We are obviously disappointed to be knocked out of the competition and I thought we went out rather too meekly for my liking.”
The Sunderland boss added: “The crowds have been absolutely fantastic. We had 40,000 for West Ham and took 5,000 to Bolton. It’s a lot of money. I am disappointed for the people who came.
“It’s not hard to live as a professional player. It doesn’t matter if it’s 100,000 people there or ten. People have still come here and put their hands in their pockets and it’s up to the team and myself to galvanise and show more consistency.”
