FORMER Sunderland winger Thomas Butler has delivered a double snub to the club who turned him from a promising schoolboy into a Premiership player.

Firstly the Black Cats were informed that the Irishman planned to take them to an industrial tribunal, then he delivered an amazing verbal volley for the Sunderland faithful.

Sunderland immediately reacted to the tribunal news by claiming the player "lost interest" in football.

But in a move that will surely alienate the fans as well as the club, Butler spoke of the improvement he saw in the supporters when he moved to Dunfermline in September.

Butler said: "They (the Dunfermline fans) are good considering if down at Sunderland we hadn't scored in the first ten minutes all the fans would be coming down on top of you."

The Black Cats remained tight-lipped over the details of the midfielder's move north of the border, refusing to be drawn on the reasons for the sale.

But yesterday the club declared they were "surprised and disappointed" by Butler, and claimed the player told the club he no longer wanted to play for the Black Cats.

In a bid to help the player the club insist they allowed him compassionate leave and he reaffirmed his wishes when manager Mick McCarthy and vice-chairman John Fickling flew to Ireland to meet him.

Butler recently claimed there were other reasons which led to his departure.

He said: ''Unfortunately I had problems and returned to Ireland to see a specialist about an injury. The club weren't happy and it all blew up - they said I'd breached my contract but I wasn't aware of it. Neither were my agent or lawyers.

''It was a bad way for something to end. I enjoyed my time at Sunderland and the final outcome has nothing to do with Mick McCarthy.

''But I couldn't sit around and sulk. I waited a long time to get my registration back from the club and spent a couple of months training on my own, which was tough.

''Finally the papers came through and Dunfermline were interested. I had no hesitation about coming here. I'm dying to get back to playing. This is like a new start.''

Fickling said yesterday: ''We all feel extremely disappointed with the situation, which is very unusual in football terms.

''We regret having to make the details of Thomas' resignation and disclosures public, particularly as we have stayed silent about the circumstances of his departure in an effort to protect the player's future interests.

''The club has acted with integrity during the process. The club did not coerce the player to say he did not want to play for Sunderland or that he had no enthusiasm for playing football games, nor did we solicit his resignation.

''However, having made the statements and taking these actions the club has the right to act on them and ultimately chose to do so by accepting his resignation.''

* Darren Williams will remain at Cardiff City for a further two months after the Bluebirds obtained an extension to his loan deal. Williams will stay at Ninian Park for the full three months allowed under Football League rules, and Cardiff manager Lennie Lawrence aims to make it a permanent move. Lawrence said: "I like him. I hope this will lead to a permanent deal."

* Former Sunderland defender Mark Rossiter has retired from football at the age of 21. Rossiter had been out of action since March 2003, when he damaged knee ligaments.

* Kevin Richardson has rejoined Sunderland's coaching team replacing Jocky Scott as reserve team manager.

Sunderland statement:

''During the early part of this year Thomas Butler, entirely of his own volition, resigned from the club and made it clear to the manager that he no longer wanted to play football for Sunderland.

''In a meeting with Mick McCarthy in January 2004, Thomas Butler informed him that he no longer enjoyed playing competitive football and hadn't for some time.

''He indicated to the club that, having reflected on this for many months, he did not enjoy the life of a footballer and no longer wanted to continue as a player and in particular that he no longer wished to play football for Sunderland.

''Of even greater concern to the club, during discussions he admitted that he could not raise any enthusiasm for playing in competitive matches and had not been able to for some time, and appeared unconcerned about the results of matches he was involved in.

''Thomas repeated this again in a further conversation with another club official a short time later.

''Although he had resigned, the club still retained his registration and compensation rights, which it has since voluntarily agreed to forgo.

''Having made these statements confirming his resignation and the club having accepted his resignation, the player's advisors subsequently attempted to retract his resignation, and asked the club to allow him to return as a Sunderland player.

"Having re-considered the circumstances carefully and after taking professional advice, the club advised both parties that it would not reinstate the player."

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