Sunderland’s search for a new manager finally came to an end yesterday.
Regis Le Bris was named as the new permanent head coach of Sunderland, after suffering relegation with French side Lorient.
The 48-year-old guided Lorient to a tenth-place finish during his first season in senior management, but things quickly went downhill this time round.
Le Bris was set to leave the Ligue 2 outfit and has now moved to Wearside, with the Black Cats having already gone through a long list of candidates.
Sunderland’s favoured candidate also came from France, with Will Still heavily linked with the job since December.
The 31-year-old looked very likely to join the Championship club after it was confirmed that he was leaving Reims last month.
However, he went onto return to Ligue 1 with Lens, while Sunderland took another 12 days to find an alternative addition.
Sunderland have received a mixed reaction following Le Bris’ arrival, while many were previously eager to see Still get the job.
How Lens beat Sunderland to Will Still
A report has now explained why Still joined Lens instead, with the Black Cats having a ‘strong belief’ that they could have appointed him if it wasn’t for one thing.
According to The Northern Echo, Sunderland thought they had wrapped up Still’s appointment and had a strong belief ‘within the corridors of power’ that the coach would have moved to Wearside had Lens not offered him more money.
The slow process cost the Black Cats his appointment
Sunderland had a month to appoint Still before he eventually joined Lens, at which point the French club weren’t searching for their own manager.
While it is understandable that they didn’t want to fork out more than Lens, there wouldn’t have been the competition in the first place if they had sped up the process.
Fans eventually became bored of the saga surrounding Still though and it became more just a frustration of waiting, rather than having a problem with not appointing him.
Le Bris certainly feels like a huge risk from Sunderland though, but there were very few options remaining after so many coaches turned down the club.
It will be an interesting few months at the Stadium of Light, while it could well be the end of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman if things don’t improve next season.