Hutch to clean up his act

The 30-year-old Scottish international was the Wearsiders' most cautioned player during the last Premiership campaign.

He went into the final match against his previous club Everton with 13 cautions against him and was sent off for a professional foul 20 minutes after coming on as substitute.

The dismissal earned him an automatic one-match ban and, like last season, following his £2.5m transfer from Goodison Park, he is forced to be a spectator at the curtain-raiser against Ipswich Town at the Stadium of Light on August 18 because of suspension.

The Tynesider, however, has promised to mend his ways and try to stay clear of disciplinary problems.

The hard-working midfielder, who previously played for Hartlepool, Liverpool, West Ham, Sheffield United and Everton, said: "I think that all the times I've moved to a new club I've always had a bad disciplinary record in the first year.

"I think that's like a lot of players - you have a bad first year because you try too hard.

"Next season I'll probably not have half as many bookings.

"In my first season at Everton I was up before the FA for the same reason - I was trying too hard and trying to make tackles I couldn't do.

"In today's game as soon as you make a bad tackle you get a yellow card, so 12 tackles in 40 games can result in a suspension. I'm sure next season I will be fine."

Hutchison welcomes the introduction of professional referees from next season and he would like the officials to watch how Premiership clubs train.

He said: "If they came to watch Sunderland train and saw someone commit a foul they'd realise that obviously the offender wasn't trying to hurt the player because he is a teammate.

"Sometimes you just mistime things and if referees can learn the difference between a bad tackle and a one that's just mistimed then the whole game would be better for it."

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