The Sunderland board have been warned about what they risk doing to Mike Dodds and his squad after a ‘tough’ season.
Sunderland‘s youngsters enjoyed an excellent first campaign in the Championship last time out, with many of them hailed for their quality, passion and decision-making.
However, with a number of the more experienced leaders making way since then, an extremely young squad have now been left to battle the intensity of second tier football alone – alongside a 37-year-old coach who has never had a permanent job in management.
We have seen a number of huge talents struggle without that important guidance, while even older players such as Patrick Roberts may feel like he has been pulled back due to now becoming one of the leaders on the pitch.
Despite most of the squad still being barely over 20 years old, the players have come under heavy criticism and could well be traumatised by what has been a very stressful season.
Similarly, supporters are calling for Mike Dodds sacking after his first ‘proper’ stint in charge, despite never really asking to be put in this position in the first place.
Sunderland need to be very ‘careful’
Sunderland’s confidence is shattered, and journalist James Copley believes the club may now ‘ruin’ the youth stars if they aren’t ‘careful’.
Speaking on Shots! The Roar, Copley said: “We talk about empowering youth a lot at Sunderland, but we do have to be careful not to hang people out to dry as well.
I just wonder, Mike Dodds and some of the players might be sitting there thinking ‘blimey, we’re all really young and we haven’t had much help’. You don’t really want to ruin some of these players. You don’t want to stunt their development by over exposing them.
“Mike Dodds – is this really the best thing for his development? He’s going through a tough time at the minute.
“Yesterday’s result was absolutely all on them, but I can’t help but feel for them. I just feel like they’re the ones caught in the middle of decisions that have come from above.”
What has happened to our talented youngsters?
Half of the starting line-up from Sunderland’s defeat to Blackburn were regulars in the team last season, when everything was sunshine and rainbows.
Pierre Ekwah was exceptional following his move from West Ham and fans were baffled why the Premier League club had decided to get rid of him – and he can’t just simply have lost all that talent.
There is so much pressure on these players who have barely had a sniff of senior football, and because the club have decided to offload all of those ‘father’ figures that they had, they are now expected to guide their way through the campaign on their own.
It comes as no surprise that many of them are struggling – all while facing the backlash of frustrated fans.
So many of these youngsters could have been thriving this term if they had been allowed to continue developing on from last season’s success, but questionable decisions made by the club has sent them into decline instead.