MICK McCARTHY last night revealed he wants Sunderland's players to laugh and joke their way out of trouble - but stressed: "They're not walking round doing Tommy Cooper impressions."

While Cooper made a successful career out of his flawed attempts at performing magic tricks, even legendary escape artist Harry Houdini would struggle to save Sunderland now.

The Black Cats' ever-growing army of critics might claim the club's problems are so deep-rooted that they cannot bounce back "just like that", to quote the late comedian.

But while McCarthy doubts the likes of Moroccan defender Talal El Karkouri will be donning a fez and taking off Cooper just yet, the Sunderland manager is delighted the players are grinning, rather than grimacing, through the present crisis.

He said: "The training ground should be a happy place, a place people want to come to, and the players are happy and bubbly at the moment.

"They're not walking round doing Tommy Cooper impressions, but there's a way of doing your job.

"If you're enjoying yourself and smiling, fans might say you shouldn't be laughing and joking because you're bottom of the League.

"It's very hard being bottom. I can feel for them because I'm the third manager they've had this season and there's been a bit of turmoil at the club.

"But without the players being in the right frame of mind and wanting to play, you can't do it.

"They're human beings; they're still living their lives. If they can enjoy training, I think that reflects in the matches.

"Training is deadly serious, and everything we've done has been serious towards the West Ham game.

"But if I was miserable and moped around because we'd lost, I couldn't expect a positive response from the players. I'm not like that, though.

"I like a bubbly training ground, but it's not easy to do that when you're being spanked every week.

"It's a vicious circle. You can get spanked and then be miserable as sin from Monday until the next game, but you're not going to play well.

"And if the worst happens, we've got to be in a positive frame of mind. We want everyone feeling positive so we hit the ground running next season and attempting to come back.

"If you work in an office, you like people to be behaving in a certain way when you go there, and it's the same for footballers.

"If you don't enjoy being a professional footballer, something is seriously wrong.

"Despite our lowly position, you've got to enjoy the fact you're still playing football. Believe me, it's a lot worse when you've finished."

McCarthy has told any players who might have already started thinking about deserting Sunderland's sinking Premiership ship that the last eight games of the season represent the perfect chance to show off their top-flight credentials.

The Black Cats boss wants them to use today's trip to West Ham United, and their other seven remaining fixtures, to demonstrate they have the heart for the battle.

McCarthy said: "If I were a manager or a coach looking for other players, I'd be looking for their attitude now in a lowly position when they need to scrap.

"You want to know what a player's attitude is like when he's at the bottom of the League, not the top of the League.

"If anyone has a mindset that they will leave if the worst happens, then they should show the world how good they are.

"If the worst should happen, let's not be the absolute worst; let's not be the bottom club."

McCarthy is full of admiration for the way West Ham manager Glenn Roeder has conducted himself during his bust-up with Paolo Di Canio.

Roeder's side have hauled themselves closer to safety with seven points from their last three games, and they are eight points above Sunderland.

McCarthy said: "Fair play to Glenn. He's had some difficult times but he's stood his ground, kept his nerve and given his club a chance to stay in the Premier League.

"I think he's handled that with dignity and integrity, and he's a good guy. West Ham have had a bit of a resurgence with a few good results, and they've got a lifeline.

"They've got some very talented players, but so have we and we're in a worse position. They've got a much better chance of getting out of it than we have.

"They'll be feeling the tension and pressure, but they've been feeling it all year."

Read more about Sunderland here.