MICHAEL GRAY thinks Sunderland’s failings should not be continuously blamed on the manager and has backed Dick Advocaat to lead another successful survival charge.

Gray, who has apologised to the club’s owner Ellis Short for calling him a “liar” in a radio interview in August, still has major concerns about the Black Cats’ plight and some of the major decisions being made.

And he is fearful of what the future might hold because of a lack of continuity at the Stadium of Light since Roy Keane left in December 2008, with six more managers (or a head coach) brought in to try to bring greater success.

But Gray, who spent 12 years playing for his hometown club, thinks more should be done than to just criticise Advocaat for Sunderland’s position at the foot of the Premier League after seven games this season; ahead of dates with West Ham, West Brom and Newcastle.

“I think we’ve got to stop pointing the finger at managers, I really do, because it can’t be every manager’s fault at the football club. It just can’t. I think the finger has to be pointed somewhere else. You can make your mind up where,” said Gray, speaking at Rockliffe Hall where he was supporting the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation Golf Day.

“I like him (Advocaat). I think he showed his passion at the end of last season when we played Arsenal and he had a tear in his eye. I think that showed how much it meant to him.

“Whether his hands have been tied in the summer transfer window or not ... apparently he said he wanted it all done very quickly. Well that wasn’t the case.

“I still believe, although he’s only staying for a season, that he is the right guy to get Sunderland out of this mess, but it looks like we’re probably going to be looking at the January transfer window to try and sort that out.”

After Gray had blasted Short in an interview for failing to see through promises to invest in the squad, the Sunderland owner hit back by defending himself in his match-day programme notes. The pair have since chatted on the phone to clear the air.

The 41-year-old said: “He (Ellis) was great, he was very honest. I said that I’m not an employee of the club so I’m allowed to speak freely, but of course I apologised for calling him a liar. The whole conversation was about what was happening at the club and we thrashed it out between the two of us.

“We’re going to sit down over the next couple of weeks and have a coffee and talk about things. But he said he was going to spend money before the transfer window closed and he was good to his word by bringing in Fabio Borini.

“I asked what direction the club was going in and his ambition was very high, which was nice to hear. But we have obviously fallen short in the last five or six years, which is disappointing, it’s hard for me to watch the demise of the football club. I just want to see a little bit of success and a little bit of passion, because that has been missing.”

Since Borini’s arrival shortly before the transfer window closed, Sunderland’s form has failed to improve. They have lost their last four, which has seen them dumped out of the Capital One Cup and drop four points adrift of the safety in the league.

Gray said: “I can see signs of improvement, if I’m honest, I think. In the first half against Manchester United, it was just a sucker-punch when they scored the goal before half-time. That just sapped all the energy and momentum that was coming their way.

“We’ve got West Ham, West Brom and Newcastle, our biggest rivals, in the next three games and you have to be looking to pick up points in those three games because if we’re looking at ten games into the season and we’re still very low, in single (points) figures, then I think the writing’s on the wall.”

And as a locally produced former Sunderland player himself, he still can’t understand why there are not more players from Wearside instilling greater local pride in the first team.

“I like (Fabio) Borini, I like (Jeremain) Lens, I like (Yann) M’Vila. Why we had to bring the other ones in, I don’t know. I mean this is a question you obviously have to ask the managers, not me,” said Gray.

“But where are all the youth players? Where are all the academy players coming through at the Stadium of Light? It just doesn’t happen now. Jordan Henderson and Jack Colback were the last two, so where are they (the next ones)?

“We saw with Duncan Watmore when he came on in the Norwich game and got that goal, how much the Sunderland fans and the public got behind him. It was absolutely brilliant to see, and we want to see a lot more of that because that’s what it’s built on, our club.

“They don’t get the opportunities. If they’re good enough, stick them in the team and prove to everybody that they are.”