Sunderland have been handed a rather gloomy prediction for the summer ahead, as their search for a new manager goes on.
Sunderland now look set to miss out on long-term manager target Will Still, after what’s been a fairly crazy 24 hours.
It’s been claimed that Still had agreed to take charge of Sunderland but was concerned about the lack of investment and the current coaching staff.
And the Belgian-English coach now looks set to take charge of Ligue 1 side RC Lens, pushing Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus back to square one.
There’s still names linked with the job at the Stadium of Light but the list is ever-shortening, with Bayern Munich U19s coach Rene Maric one of the only names known to be of interest.
Now approaching four months without a permanent manager in place, EFL pundit Ryan Dilks has shared a worrying prediction about Sunderland.
Ryan Dilks shares worrying Sunderland prediction
Speaking on the Second Tier Podcast, Dilks said of Sunderland: “This is a club who’ve made it quite clear that they’d like to get back to the Premier League as soon as possible.
“They’ve shown plenty of ambition in different ways ever since they came back to the Championship, really.
“But I’m just looking at this, thinking, I’m not sure we’re going to see a massive turnaround over the next summer.
“I could be completely wrong and they do make an ambitious appointment which turns out to completely revitalise everything.
“But at the moment, my vibe level with Sunderland is just so low that I struggle to get massively excited.”
Sunderland now facing one key issue this summer
Arguably, whoever Sunderland hire as their next manager, there’s going to be a clear sense that it’s not their preferred candidate.
It’s clear that Louis-Dreyfus wanted Still and now whoever comes in will arrive as a next-best option, so the Black Cats’ next boss will arguably be up against it from the off.
And the longer that Sunderland go without a manager, the more difficult the job becomes for whoever comes in.
The club is certainly at a major crossroads right now. Not only is there a manager to hire but there’s some pressing issues to sort within the first-team, made clear after their poor finish to the 2023/24 campaign.
Then there’s the matter of player sales with a number of players wanted in the Premier League; not having a manager in place though may surely impact on what sales Sunderland do and don’t oversee in the coming weeks.
Like Dilks says, it’s very hard to get all that excited about the summer and the 2024/25 season ahead for Sunderland.