A manager now fancied by Sunderland was once labelled the ‘worst coach ever’.
Sunderland are still on the lookout for their next manager after parting ways with Michael Beale in February.
The Black Cats have been without a permanent manager since and fans are becoming increasingly restless with the lack of movement on the managerial front.
Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus has already missed out on his no.1 target Will Still who’s been named as the new RC Lens manager.
Shortly after, Liam Rosenior pulled out of Sunderland contention, with the former Hull City boss wanting to pursue the Burnley job instead.
Sunderland are now left with very few names on their shortlist. One manager liked by Louis-Dreyfus and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman is Marti Cifuentes.
Sunderland are reportedly keen on QPR manager Cifuentes after the Spaniard guided the R’s to an 18th place finish in the Championship last season.
He’ll reportedly cost the Black Cats a six-figure compensation fee. But as the search process goes on and patience wears thing among fans, Sunderland may yet be forced to pay out Cifuentes at QPR.
Sunderland manager target Marti Cifuentes once labelled the ‘worst coach ever’
Cifuentes, 41, didn’t have much of a playing career, instead turning his attention to coaching at a young age.
The Spaniard started out in the lower leagues of Spain before getting his break in Scandinavia with Norwegian side Sandefjord in 2018.
In more than two years in charge, he won 33 of 81 games, then being snapped up by four-time Danish champions AaB at the start of 2022.
But in an interview with Guardian in December 2023, Cifuentes revealed his early struggles at AaB, recalling how one headline branded him the ‘worst ever coach’ that the Danish Superliga had ever seen.
Cifuentes explained: “When I went to Denmark it took six official games for me to win.
“The headline in the main sport newspaper was ‘The worst coach ever in the history of the Superliga’.
“I am very used to being inexperienced, too young, whatever. I’m just a very optimistic person. I don’t have any magical recipe.”
Cifuentes would eventually turn things around at AaB, later prompting Hammarby to bring him to the Swedish Allsvenskan, and then QPR to bring him to the Championship.
With QPR, Cifuentes won 11 of 33 games to keep the R’s in the Championship, boasting a 43.73% win rate after 295 games as a manager.
Why Marti Cifuentes could be the perfect next Sunderland manager
Cifuentes’ comments are certainly interesting. And they might suggest why he’d be a very good fit for Sunderland right now.
Arguably, whoever becomes the next Sunderland manager will be up against it from the start, given the current unrest among fans.
Whoever arrives will come in knowing that they weren’t the club’s first-choice, so that’s something of a setback in itself.
That, and the Black Cats’ next manager will likely lose some key players during this summer’s transfer window, with hopes of Speakman pulling off some good summer signings currently very low.
But Cifuentes’ track record of defying the odds, and of defying negative expectations could serve him well should he arrive at the Stadium of Light.
The next Sunderland manager will certainly need to be optimistic about the club’s fortunes.
Sunderland are very much in a mess right now and if the owners get this appointment wrong, or they hire a Beale-type character whose comments causes further anger among fans, the 2024/25 season could prove devastating.
But Cifuentes’ management record, and his calm and optimistic demeanour, could make him the ideal next Sunderland manager.