DECISIONS TO MAKE IN SEARCH FOR NEW BOSS
A LOOK AT THE KEY DECISIONS SUNDERLAND WILL HAVE TO MAKE AS THEY SEARCH FOR A NEW MANAGER
David Moyes’ resignation leaves Sunderland searching for yet another new manager.
This summer had been seen as a vital juncture in Sunderland’s history even before Moyes departed, now it is even more critical.
Two of the biggest issues chief executive Martin Bain and owner Ellis Short will have to weigh up is how the new manager will impact crucial transfer plans already drawn up, and how important experience is when it comes to candidates they weigh up.
Transfer strategy
Plans for the retained list are well in advance and decisions on who will be kept and who will be released will, in all likelihood, be settled before the new manager takes his post.
Then, however, a big decision is to be made on the issue that will define Sunderland’s future – recruitment.
The new manager will have little funds to work with and a large amount of squad places to fill, making the margin for error small.
David Moyes and the Sunderland hierarchy had fairly well advanced transfer plans for the summer in place, with shortlists drawn and agents spoken to, The Black Cats might look for a manager who knows the UK market well and would be happy sticking to the template already in place.
Or they could look for a manager with a strong contacts book who would be able to quickly made headway in the market.
This season’s Championship play-off finalists are the best examples of that, with Reading Jaap Stam bringing in a nucleus of Dutch players following his appointment last summer. David Wagner worked the German market brilliantly at Huddersfield, as well as the domestic loan market.
Both have transformed their clubs’ fortunes in the space of one season with tactical acumen and, above all else, good recruitment.
Sunderland’s likely dependence on loans and free transfers is worrying, but it does not have to be a recipe for catastrophe.
So a big question when Bain and Short meet candidates will be, are you happy put these plans into place? If not, what’s your alternative?
How important is past experience?
It is an enormous job at Sunderland.
A radical overhaul of a squad, meaning good recruitment is essential. Getting that squad united, fit and ready tactically to play together is an equally big challenge, So is experience vital? The Championship is not a division that has been an insurmountable task to newcomers. Stam and Wagner have shown that this season, as Roy Keane famously did at Sunderland in 2006-07.
The mood among the fanbase has been poor this season and it could be argued that most important of all is to galvanise the club and fumigate the atmosphere after years of toil. Add to that the potential arrival of a club legend, say Kevin Phillips or Stefan Schwarz, and perhaps some much-needed momentum and positivity can be built.
The other side of the argument is that such is the uncertainty at Sunderland, and the danger of a difficult readjustment to the second tier, that an very experienced campaigner is needed.
Perhaps not the most charismatic of figures, but someone who can work diligently despite off-the-field issues regarding ownership and the like.
Burton’s Nigel Clough would be someone who might fall into that category.
The scale of the challenge makes appointing a novice and extraordinary gamble,
A vital juncture even before Moyes departed, now it is even more critical