Lee Johnson has explained his one ‘regret’ during his 13-month stint at Sunderland.
Lee Johnson joined Sunderland in December 2020, five months after he was sacked by Bristol City.
He went onto sign the likes of Trai Hume, Jack Clarke and Dennis Cirkin, as well as winning the EFL Trophy final in his first campaign. However, they were knocked out of the play-off semi-finals by Lincoln City.
Johnson was eventually dismissed in January 2022, having picked up four points in six games and just been thrashed 6-0 by Bolton Wanderers.
The 43-year-old left Sunderland third in the League One table, before Alex Neil took over went to lead the club back to the second tier via the play-offs.
Johnson has now been out of work since leaving Fleetwood Town six months ago, and has been reflecting on his time on Wearside.
Lee Johnson absolutely loves Sunderland despite exit
While Sunderland fans were content with Johnson’s exit in hindsight, he has claimed that he would have won promotion with the Black Cats if he had stayed at the club.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Johnson said: “I wouldn’t change my experience at Sunderland for the world.
“My regret was that I didn’t get to see through what would have been a promotion-winning team, but I was delighted when Alex Neil did achieve that. I love Sunderland, the fans, their songs, training ground. Everyone in the building was Sunderland through and through.”
Lee Johnson’s sacking was one of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ best decisions
From the outside looking in, Lee Johnson’s sacking was a huge shock and probably quite harsh.
However, for Sunderland fans, that hammering by Bolton Wanderers was the start of a dramatic decline.
The Wearside outfit had only one win in six matches and the feeling around the Stadium of Light was that they were going to gradually slip down the table.
While Sunderland were third, they arguably should have been in first place and weren’t looking likely to compete for promotion if Johnson had stayed.
Neil went onto take the club back to the Championship, so Johnson’s exit proved to be one brilliant decision by the board in the end.
Their former coach’s struggles since leaving Sunderland has proven that he probably wasn’t a good enough manager for the club, and perhaps his gift of the gab was what had been getting him through the 13 months.