Sunderland are being increasingly linked with former Hull City manager Liam Rosenior.
After missing out onWill Still, it looks like Sunderland might be edging towards the appointment of former Hull City boss Liam Rosenior.
The 39-year-old was sacked by Hull City last month despite guiding the Tigers to a 7th place finish in the 2023/24 Championship campaign.
He’s been linked with a move to the Stadium of Light since. But Rosenior’s links went cold for some time, with the former full-back then holding talks with Birmingham City.
But after Still recently took charge of RC Lens, Rosenior’s links to Sunderland have picked up, with the Englishman set to hold further talks with owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.
Hull City fans give verdict on Liam Rosenior amid Sunderland links
On paper, Rosenior guiding Hull City to a 7th place finish, and then being sacked, seemed very harsh indeed.
But owner Acun Ilicali said that Rosenior was let go because of his negative playing style; Rosenior favours possession-based football, with Hull City boasting the joint fourth-highest average possession in the Championship last season, and also boasting the third-most touches of the ball of any team.
But many Hull City fans agree with Ilicali in that Rosenior’s football, particularly at home it seems, was often very negative and bland.
@fathoms_deep said on X: “Well if you like lots of possession football he’s your man. Trouble is it’s nearly all in your own half”, and @TynesideTiger said: “Away from home we were excellent. Problem was at home it was too slow and ponderous, a lot of sideways play in our own half. A lot of draws.”
Rosenior comes across as a very straight-forward and knowledgeable manager in his press conferences, and that’s something Hull City fans also pointed out.
@digby430 said: “He builds up good relationships with fans, players and staff wants to play nice football and speaks incredibly well too. He will go far, the only real negative I know of (I’ll stand corrected if I’m wrong) was that the build up play at times was very slow but that’s correctable.”
But the overriding message from Hull City fans is that the football was often tough to watch. @hullensian1904 told Sunderland fans: “Get ready for boring football at home and a lot of excuses made,” and @jtwHCAFC said: “I backed him throughout last season. His football can be entertaining at times but sometimes can be boring.”
@angel_high9 added: “I’m still salty he’s gone. But I get why, he needs to work on plan Bs and getting the ball through the final third, something he just couldn’t get to click at Hull. When it works, it works well. When it doesn’t it can be dull. But he’s a great guy, great manager, build bonds.”
Is Liam Rosenior the right manager for Sunderland
Sunderland enter this summer at a very difficult crossroads. The owners need to show the fans that they remain ambitious and that they’re the right people to take the club forward, and they can do that by hiring a manager who’ll excite fans ahead of the new season.
But reviews from Hull City fans may do the opposite of that. And after Sunderland fans had to sit through some bland football under Michael Beale and Mike Dodds, another manager whose football can be very negative certainly seems like a backwards step.
On top of that, Rosenior may not have the same quality of players that Beale and Dodds had with names like Jack Clarke among others potentially leaving.
So Rosenior will really have to show his coaching credentials, and maybe make some changes to his philosophy if he’s not only going to succeed at Sunderland, but get the fans on board too.
The Beale tenure showed us that having the fans on side is a huge factor behind whether or not managers succeed at Sunderland.
Like some Hull fans pointed out, though, Rosenior comes across well in the media; a lot better than Beale whose comments made matters worse for him.
Time will tell if Rosenior is the right fit for Sunderland. But it certainly seems like he’s the front-runner as things stand.