Sunderland manager David Moyes admits he would have thought twice about joining them had he known about the club's financial issues.
Moyes will not be able to strengthen his side in the January transfer window with the Premier League cellar-dwellers up for sale.
The situation has left Moyes frustrated as he bids to preserve Sunderland's top-flight status after replacing Sam Allardyce in the summer, so much so that he has regrets over taking on the top job at the Stadium of Light.
"Sunderland always had an appeal to me, but if I had known about the situation I would have needed to look at it in a different way," said Moyes, whose Black Cats are four points adrift of safety ahead of Saturday's game against Watford.
"I would have had to think a lot more about it, because at the end of the day I want to manage in the Premier League.
"I did not know the club could be going up for sale, I was not made aware of that before. I didn't see us having no money [in January]. Even in the summer I knew what we were spending was small in comparison — and I said that to the owner.
"But I hoped it would be a short period and we would then have the next period [January] to get things done. That has shown itself not to be the case.
"I'm disappointed that I will not be able to do some work in January and try and build on what we've done."
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