Regis Le Bris has conducted his first interview since joining Sunderland last week.
Sunderland endured a four-month search for a new manager, having sacked Michael Beale back in February.
After missing out on a number of targets, the Black Cats eventually appointed former Lorient manager Le Bris.
The Frenchman guided the club to a tenth place finish in his first campaign in senior football, but ended his stay at the Stade du Moustoir when they were relegated last month.
Le Bris’ first appearance at the Stadium of Light saw him attend the Hummel kit launch at the club’s brand new store, meeting fans alongside Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman.
Le Bris wants to bring an ‘identity’ back to Sunderland
He has now sat down for his first interview as head coach and has explained what his immediate and long-term goals are for his first season in charge.
Speaking on the club’s official YouTube channel, Le Bris said: “I think this group have huge quality already. I studied many games before coming here and they were able to perform very well. So now we need to find some strong foundations and we need to build it during pre-season, because the Championship is a very hard, very tough league. We need to become consistent all the time and this is the main purpose.
“I love the game. I like to understand the game, I like to develop players, I like to develop the team, I like to share my ideas with the players. When we are linked with the game, we will build many, many improvements. We need also to create an atmosphere and these two ideas for me are the main ideas.”
When asked what his ambitions are for his first season in the Championship, Le Bris said: “”I hope that we will link to our identity very quickly. For sure, with the quality of the players, the foundation of the club, with the energy of the fans – we will perform very well. There is always the opponent and the game is always unpredictable, but if we perform with our identity and our talented players, we will perform well.”
The Frenchman is a very convincing speaker, now he needs to translate it onto the pitch
Le Bris’ arrival rightfully raised a lot of eyebrow given his relegation, but he will likely have gained a lot more support from his interview.
The 48-year-old spoke very well, and while he will be well aware that he needs to reach the play-offs, he made it very clear that his goals are to bring an identity back to the club and to develop the Black Cats’ very young squad.
Le Bris seems to understand that it isn’t as simple as winning games again, but rather to change the mentality at the club and transform a number of players into Championship quality stars.
Sunderland fans will be hopeful that he can have a positive impact on the development of French players such as Adil Aouchiche and Abdoullah Ba, as well as getting the best out of the likes of Patrick Robert and Pierre Ekwah once again.
