Inside story of Phil Parkinson's first year as Sunderland boss
It’s December 29th and Sunderland are in their lowest ever position. Ever.
They are 15th in League One, seven points from the play-off positions. This is the first time they have ever played consecutive seasons in the third tier and right now, yet another seems inevitable.
It has the feel of a seismic day, one where something has to give. The Black Cats win a free-kick just inside the opposition half.
There appears to be little danger, and Doncaster Rovers defend like it. Lynden Gooch gathers possession, and just keeps going. On and on he goes, until suddenly he’s just outside the edge of the area and even more suddenly, the ball hits the top corner. Delirium breaks out amongst the fans.
Sunderland were relentless, and though they were pegged back just before half time, the win was fully deserved.
A promising draw with Fleetwood Town followed days later, before two thumping home wins.
Parkinson had pulled his
Sunderland tenure back from the brink.
Days before that short trip to Doncaster, a woeful 0-0 draw with Bolton Wanderers had finished with cries for change in the boardroom and the dug-out. The latter had become inextricably linked with the former.
It seemed to sum up a bleak midwinter, where a side had struggledtoadapttoanewstyle and had been unceremoniously dumped out of three cups.
One year on from his arrival on Wearside, Parkinson’s Sunderland are perhaps somewhere in between those two dizzying extremes.
In aspects of their game they are markedly improved, and in others there still have much to do to prove they are finally a unit capable of climbing into the Championship.
That win at Doncaster Rovers had also come with an added significance.
It was, without doubt, a first real sight of the template that Parkinson would stick to throughout 2020, one which transformed the make-up of his side and significantly improved their points output.
The goal from Gooch was not insignificant. Alongside Charlie Wyke, the tenacious attacking midfielder was key to improving Sunderland’s pressing game.
Though that visit of Bolton was the game where the discontent was most audible, equally as significant had been the 1-0 defeat at Gillingham a week before.
That was a nadir for a team plumbing new depths and in the weeks that followed, the shape of the team began to transform.
In the wide areas, Conor McLaughlin and Laurens De Bock were gradually replaced by Luke O’Nien and Denver Hume.
This had, in fact, been Jack Ross’ vision for the side in preseason, noting that the pair could bring a new dimension to the team in a more attacking role.
Sunderland, too, looked better equipped for the pressing demands of Parkinson, the tailored regime of new Head of Sports Science Nick Allamby producing results.
In the aftermath of that Gillingham game, Parkinson had also made his most divisive decision yet.
Though the ‘McDonald’s gate’ affair was blown out of all proportion, it was telling that Sunderland finished that game without calling on some of their key attacking players.
Aiden McGeady was one of them.
So often Sunderland’s talisman in the year previous, within a fortnight he would be told he had no future at the club.
Both Parkinson and McGeady have largely kept their counsel, aware that until he leaves the club permanently, it is in everyone’s interests to maintain a relatively dignified truce.
This was a call made by Parkinson around team culture, and it is one that he knew wouldhavemajorconsequences.
Sources close to the manager pointed out that he had made similar decisions at other clubs, and that he was deter
minedtodothingshisownway.
His instinct was that the team environment would be better for the change and in the initial months, the improved resultswithoutadoubtworked to his favour.
Undoubtedly, it was a call that allowed him to truly put his own stamp on the side.
The current Sunderland side is probably inconceivable with McGeady in it, given the pressing demands in defence and the way the Irishman so naturally became the outlet on it.
It was a high-stakes gamble, and some at the time remarked that McGeady would be wise to bide his time. At that point, it seemed he had a chance of outlasting the under-pressure
manager.
An explosive recent interview from Lewis Morgan underlined the difference in approach between the two managers.
Ross empowered McGeady, allowed him a central role in the dressing room and was prepared to take on the challenge.
He was rewarded with a number of match-winning contributions, the player even playing through a broken bone in his foot to try and drag his side over the line at the end of the campaign.
Twice, injury prevented him taking part in any pre-season preparations and twice, he came straight into the side to try and make a difference.
Parkinson saw it differently, and just over a year on he would point to the obvious stability and resilience of his group as vindication.
Off the ball they are a welldrilled unit, and off the pitch they are clearly a settled group.
If the surge of positive results at the turn of the new decade seemed to end the debate, the dip at the end of the curtailed campaign checked that argument somewhat.
It remains a fascinating topic that sums up where Parkinson has tried to take the team, where it has improved, a little of what it has lost, and the questions it still needs to answer.
*See tomorrow's edition for part two of Phil Parkinson’s first year as Sunderland manager.