Black Cats are in crisis mode – what is to be done?
FANS WERE FURIOUS WITH THEIR CLUB ON TUESDAY
SUNDERLAND are in crisis.
Anyone who was at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday night could see it.
The Black Cats’ defeat against Burton Albion plumbed new depths.
Not in terms of the result, nor even the performance – they have lost by far heavier scorelines, and they have turned in worse displays over 90 minutes – but the atmosphere turned sour as the fans realised that their club is on the slide once more, and this time in League One.
The bitterness that accompanied Sunderland’s relegation from the Premier League, and which increased as the club crashed out of the Championship the next season, was back.
“Sacked in the morning”, sang the South Stand towards manager Phil Parkinson, who was taking charge of only his sixth league game and has not yet been in the job six weeks.
“You’re not fit to wear the shirt”, they scoffed at the players as they crumbled.
The chants echoed those which came from the away fans at Bolton Wanderers in September, and which marked a turning point the beginning of the end for Jack Ross.
Just 67 days later, it was Ross’
successor Parkinson in the firing line with his record reading just two wins in 11 games in all competitions.
Owner Stewart Donald has been absent for weeks but he was sitting in the directors’ box last night and the only consolation he could take is that he was not the target of the fans’ fury.
For now, it is Parkinson and the players who are copping the brunt of it.
But unless Sunderland’s decline is reversed – and quickly – those in the boardroom will not escape criticism, indeed they will be front and centre.
Their talk of a 100-point target could be dismissed as mere footballing naïvety in the summer; now it looks like hubris on an epic scale. Fans are already questioning their decision to appoint Parkinson.
Given that Ross was sacked with the club sixth in the table because that was deemed not good enough, there is now blind panic behind the scenes as Sunderland have slipped to 11th. Realistically, their hopes of automatic promotion already lie in tatters and we are not yet out of November.
On current form, you would not put money on them finishing in the play-offs either.
Games in hand notwithstanding, Sunderland are closer to the relegation zone than to the summit of League One.
And that is absolutely, utterly, unacceptable.
Against Burton, they were gifted the lead in the first half when Luke O’Nien won the softest of penalties which Aiden McGeady converted.
But that lead lasted less than a minute before Ryan Edwards equalised, and then Liam Boyce took advantage of powder-puff defending to put Albion in front midway through the second half.
That was bad enough, but it was Sunderland’s performance in the last quarter of the game which incensed the fans.
They had to chase the game and yet showed nothing going forward, and defensively they looked a bundle of nerves, making mistake after mistake, as Burton hit the bar and missed a series of chances to inflict more embarrassment on their hapless hosts.
Before Boyce had struck, Sunderland had shown some fight and the fans had backed them, but they cannot be blame for turning on their team in the closing stages.
Parkinson himself admitted that his side lacked “conviction, character, and courage” and “deservedly got booed off at the end”.
Sunderland’s next game sees them return to Gillingham, the scene of their FA Cup first round exit, a week on Saturday.
Until then, the inquest will continue on Wearside.
It is going to be a long 10 days.
Realistically, their hopes of automatic promotion already lie in tatters and we are not yet out of November James Hunter