Billy Jones has defended former teammate Jack Rodwell, claiming he was scapegoated during Sunderland’s double relegation
Former Sunderland defender Billy Jones says Jack Rodwell was made a scapegoat and insists the ex-England midfielder wanted to play during the club's darkest days.
Former Sunderland full-back Jones says the midfielder was unfairly turned into a scapegoat by the time the Black Cats were relegated to the Championship and then League One. Speaking to the UndrTheCosh podcast with ex-pros Jon Parkin and Chris Brown in 2024, Jones opened up about the dressing room view of Rodwell, who remains one of the most controversial figures in recent Sunderland history.
Rodwell, who arrived at the Stadium of Light on a lucrative long-term contract in 2014, was heavily criticised by supporters, particularly during the club’s 2017-18 Championship season and later in the Sunderland 'Til I Die Netflix documentary. But Jones says the narrative around Rodwell wasn't the full story.
“I felt for him a little bit,” Jones said. “He’d become a bit of a scapegoat. Obviously, David Moyes came out, and I think in his first interview post-game after we got relegated, he said something like, ‘The club’s fine – everyone’s got relegation clauses apart from Jack Rodwell. So he's come out and made it open for everyone to hear.” When asked by Parkin if that was Rodwell’s fault, Jones was clear: “Well, no, obviously. You get offered that [contract], you’re going to sign it, aren’t you, as a player?”
Rodwell’s situation worsened during Sunderland’s season in the Championship, where Jones claims the club tried to push the midfielder out with last-minute offers to unfamiliar destinations. “They wanted him out that season,” Jones continued. “It was like deadline day – ‘You can go to Saudi Arabia if you want.’ He’s like, ‘What?’ And it was so last-minute. He had a young kid, and some of the offers were just… random.”
Despite public criticism suggesting Rodwell was content to sit out his contract, Jones says his former teammate was baffled by the club’s refusal to play him. “At times, speaking to him, he said: ‘I don’t understand why they just don’t play us. I’d play, instead of me just training with the kids.’ He’d say, ‘If they said play, I’d play. I don’t know why people don’t think I would.’ You’d have to speak to him yourself, but that’s what he was saying to me.”
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Rodwell left Sunderland in 2018 after a controversial spell that saw him make just three appearances in his final season. He later had short stints at Blackburn, Sheffield United, Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC. Aged 34, Rodwell is currently without a club.
What has Jack Rodwell said about his time at Sunderland?
But the player himself has taken a different view of that controversial period of his career. In an interview with Optus Sport this week, he said: “The thing that bugs me about it - especially afterwards - is, ‘For Jack it was just the money.’ If it was just the money, I would have stayed at Man City.
“So I went from winning the Premier League to pretty much, the bottom of the league, Sunderland. They’d just survived relegation that year. So I went from top to bottom purely because I wanted to play and I didn’t want to just sit there and take money. That’s not the player I am. I was forced to see out the season with the reserves, which, you know, it is what it is. But it’s just the fact that they sort of made it out that I was the scapegoat.”
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