Can Lee balance the Black Cats? Smithy answers your questions
It’s been a dizzying week or so of change on Wearside, with Sunderland’s footballing operation undergoing a significant restructure.
Here in the second part of an in-depth Q&A, our Black Cats writer Phil Smith answering questions from supporters on a variety of club matters...
When and if the club is sold will that result in another new manager?
If the proposed takeover goes through as expected, then no. The recent changes in structure, particularly the appointment of Kristjaan Speakman as Sporting Director, are closely associated with the expected changes in the ownership and shareholding.
It was then Speakman’s decision to appoint Lee Johnson as Head Coach. As Sporting Director, he has autonomy over appointments made in the footballing department.
In short then, that’s a decision that is essentially already approved. It’s also our understanding from speaking to those with knowledge of the head coach hiring process that the potential new investor/s were in line with the process and the decision made.
So the proposed takeover will not alter the course that Sunderland have set out on in recent weeks. It’s still firmly expected that the deal will go ahead and is believed to be in the final stages, which includes the EFL checks.
R e c e nt (a n d ve r y we l - come) changes to EFL governance now mean a deal has to be approved by them before any deal can be formally concluded.
What changes need to be made and, if on the playing side, how can they be implemented in the light of the salary cap that League 1 clubs are under? If sales of some of our players would need to be made to accommodate incomings, can we make sure that new players are acquired before letting others go to avoid the inevitable gap that would occur?
With difficulty, is the honest answer!
I f my c a l c u l at i o n s a r e
right, Sunderland have one space left in their 22-man squad for the season.
So that means they can add one player over the age of 21 before they would be forced to let players go in order to bring others in. I suspect they are very close to the cap in terms of their salaries, and so major investment is going to be difficult.
Of course, the loan market could become a very attractive option. Johnson has already said that he wants some pace, and that he does not necessarily mind if it is a little bit raw. He has good connections with Premier League clubs and used the market well at Bristol City, so I’m sure that is one route that he will consider.
In terms of the first part of your question, I entirely agree with Johnson that a bit more pace is needed in the final third. If Sunderland are to persist with a 4-3-3, or a variation of it, then I think the current central midfield options are lacking just a little in creativity.
S o th at’s s o m eth i n g I ’d like to see addressed, though I do wonder if as time goes by, Johnson may be able to drop Elliot Embleton or Chris Maguire into one of those roles. That would increase the attacking threat, but as the team understands his demands better, the presence of two other central midfielders should mean not too much is lost defensively.
With so many players out of contract in the summer, do the club use that to clear out as much of the squad as possible and start again? And who would you give new contracts to out of those 12?
There will, I suspect, be an element of that.
If you do win promotion, then there will naturally be a turnover of personnel as you try and prepare for what will be a significantly higher standard of football.
If you don’t, then you have reached a point where you have failed to win promotion three times. That suggests you need to change direction to some extent.
More broadly, it will clearly present an opportunity for Speakman and Johnson to begin implementing the change they are talking about.
Speakman, interestingly, has pointed out that he will, alongside Johnson, try to create a squad where there is an even distribution of players across four age brackets. This is to ensure that the squad has experience, but also has players with value whose potential is significant.
Both have quickly identified that the current squad has too many players in the upper bracket, and next summer will be a good chance to start correcting that.
There are some real assets in the final year of their deal, though, and it would be a very positive statement from the new footballing structure to address that. Contract management has been a big failing of the recent past and it’s an area that any new structure should be making a priority.
Jordan Willis and Luke O’Nien clearly deserve a new deal and are capable of stepping up a level.
D e nve r H u m e s h o u l d be retained, and I have real hope that Elliot Embleton and Jack Diamond can earn a new deal in the weeks and months ahead. They are assets that need to be protected.
Elsewhere, it will be up to the players in question to prove they can thrive in Johnson’s style and philosophy.
How successful do you think Lee Johnson will be given the ambitions he has set and the size of the challenge ahead for him?
I ’m b road l y o p t i m i s t i c from what I’ve seen and heard so far.
Clearly identifying problems is a far easier task than correcting them, but it was still heartening to see him so quickly and candidly discuss the task ahead.
His comments about the squad and the lack of pace made the most headlines and understandably so, given how big an issue it has been for a long time.
But what I liked most of all was how quickly he talked about wanting to bring a bit more energy to the place, and encouraging more creativity.
That’s something I’ve felt a lot of late and it was really encouraging to hear it addressed.
My initial instinct when Phil Parkinson left was that Johnson would be out of Sunderland’s range and likely to get a Championship job, so it therefore follows that I think it’s a good appointment.
If the brief is to win promotion and then stabilise in the Championship while improving the style of play, it looks a good bet to me.
For me, the slightly bizarre highlight of his first few days was how he handled the Dion Sanderson saga at Oldham.
Make no mistake, it was nothing short of farcical that a club of Sunderland’s stature could not realise a player was cup-tied before the teams were announced.
Johnson took full accountability (even though the responsibility lay elsewhere given how recently he had arrived), and simply said the organisational standards have to be better.
We saw in that game that th e tra n s i t i o n to h i s p re - ferred playing style is going to be a long project with lots of bumps in the road, but we were already beginning to see his patterns of play slowly emerge.
It was a reminder of just what a big job this is, and also how much his success will be defined by whether the structure around him is right.
Make no mistake, Sunderland are behind clubs like Bristol City right now in so many aspects of their footballing operation, and that has to change.
Speakman and Johnson’s arrivals are heartening, so long as they get that support.
There is always a lot of talk around pressure, patience etc when it comes to Sunderland.
I honestly believe anyone who shows commitment to the long-term future of the c lub w i l l ge n e rate a n i mmense amount of goodwill and support. My sincerest hope is that Speakman and Johnson find an environment where they can demonstrate what they are all about.