Sunderland have opened disciplinary proceedings against Darron Gibson after he was filmed criticising the club in a drunken rant.
The midfielder, who joined the Black Cats from Everton in January, described the North-East outfit as "shit" and accused some of his teammates of not pulling their weight.
The claims were made during a conversation with fans following Sunderland's 5-0 defeat to Celtic in Saturday's pre-season friendly.
According to The Telegraph, Gibson said: "We're shit. Of course I'm bothered, I don't want to be shit. There are too many people at the club who don't give a fuck. You tell me who doesn't want to be at the club?"
The fans proceeded to suggest that the Irishman was referring to Lamine Kone, Jeremain Lens and Wahbi Khazri, and Gibson did not rule them out.
The 29-year-old added: "Right, I'm off my face in here, but I still want to play for Sunderland, the rest of them don't though."
On Monday, the newly-demoted Championship club released a statement, which read: "Darren [sic] Gibson has not conducted himself in a manner befitting Sunderland Football Club. As a consequence, we will initiate our internal disciplinary process to deal with the matter. Darron has apologised this morning."
The North-East outfit will kick off their Championship campaign with a home match against Derby County at the Stadium of Light on August 4.
Danielle Joynson
