An emerging Sunderland manager claim is bound to drain any confidence among the fans ahead of a testing summer.
Make no mistake; Sunderland simply have to get this next manager appointment right.
After a mixed 2023/24 season, owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and sporting detector Kristjaan Speakman have lot a lot of faith among the fans.
Everything was going smooth up until the moment Sunderland sacked Tony Mowbray last year.
The Michael Beale saga followed and now Mike Dodds has been tasked with picking up the pieces, though that’s been a lot harder than most imagined.
A turbulent season has also shone a light on some questionable player recruitment, so there’s a lot of amends to be made in the summer.
Sunderland set to appoint a new manager in the summer
Dodds has been placed in charge until the summer.
It looked as though Dodds stood a chance of landing the permanent job, if he had done well, but he’s yet to win in five games and so a new face is looking increasingly likely to come in.
Several names continue to be linked; Will Still and Steve Cooper are among those, and now Sunderland are being linked with Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl.
And the club recently held a Supporters’ Collective meeting, from which the minutes were released, and this except:
“In response to a question on the Head Coach appointment process, the Club highlighted the importance of the process, but referenced that it does not guarantee the right outcome.”
Fans should question thought process behind manager search
The Beale appoint suggested that Louis-Dreyfus and Speakman may not have the best judgement of character, and of what, or rather who would work well with the fans.
Beale’s tenure was a car crash both on and off the pitch and this latest excerpt from the meeting suggests that the board themselves don’t have total faith in their approach to this managerial hunt.
Given that, then, it’ll be difficult for Sunderland fans to have any faith in the club’s managerial process, if the club themselves don’t believe in what they’re doing.
No doubt, a good 2024/25 season with better player recruitment and a manager in place for the long-run would ease all current fears both among fans and seemingly behind the scenes.
But the downside of another poor season, another poor window, and another poor managerial appointment could be devastating for Sunderland.
The Black Cats return to Championship action with a trip to Cardiff City on Friday.