Sgt Wilko new top Black Cat

The shock choice of new Sunderland manager has been defending himself vigorously against a torrent of criticism of his past record.

Howard Wilkinson — whose finest moment came when, as England technical director, he persuaded the FA to accept UEFA rule 33B/458 on the weight of crossbars for U-16 games — has insisted that the claims made against him have no basis.

Speaking a press conference inside the purpose-built gym in the basement of his luxurious two-up two-down home in Batley, Wilkinson patiently rebutted each of the main points against him.

"Point one: I am not a 'Long Ball Man'. My teams have always played a mixture of styles. I can certainly remember one match back in 1991 when Leeds players made three short passes in the same game.

"Point two: I'm certainly not behind the times or out of touch and I look forward to bringing the most up-to-date methods to Roker Park, including the scoring of goals.

"Point three: It was not a mistake to sell Eric Cantona to Manchester United when I was at Elland Road. By doing that I was able to afford to buy such quality stars such as Brian Deane and stave off certain relegation to Division Two the following season.

"Point four: I am not an overly strict disciplinarian. Players are only forbidden from bringing their mobile phones to training if they have bloody awful ringtones."

A lightning survey conducted on behalf of The Rockall Times this week found Sunderland season-ticket holders to be 100 per cent behind the idea of Wilkinson not being appointed.