A BBC pundit discusses why managers could be ‘deterred’ by the Sunderland job right now.
BBC analyst and former Sunderland player Kieron Brady has explained why he believes managers are ‘deterred’ by the Black Cats job.
After three months without a permanent manager, Sunderland fans are eager to learn who will be their new manager.
Michael Beale was fired in February after replacing Tony Mowbray in December, with Mike Dodds serving as temporary manager for the remaining 13 games of the season.
The Black Cats won only twice under Dodds and finished 16th overall. Since the completion of the season, no one appears to be leading the race to become Sunderland’s next manager.
Previous reports stated that Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ delay in choosing a manager was due to authorities at the Stadium of Light reflecting on the 2023/24 season and blunders in management judgments.
But Brady feels the delay may be due to something else.
Kieron Brady provides a disturbing conclusion on Sunderland’s manager search.
Speaking on Total Sport, Brady stated that the Sunderland position had inhibited managers in the aftermath of the 2023/24 season.
Brady stated, “Football managers, as well as potential coaches and managers, communicate with one another.”
“And I believe that the delay in Sunderland having someone in-post right now is due in part to the fact that certain managers, potential coaches, and managers are put off by what they see.
“If I were contacted to be Sunderland manager, which is unlikely, I would most likely call Michael Beale.
“I would chat with Tony Mowbray. We all know because Tony Mowbray, in this studio, frequently implied, or perhaps even explicitly stated, that it was quite restricted [at Sunderland].
Brady said: “It’s ironic in a sense, that the youth of Sunderland prospered so much, but really it was the experience of a manager that was the catalyst.”
Sunderland can’t recruit a single sort of manager this summer.
Brady makes some really fascinating comments, particularly on how managers communicate with one another and with those who have previously held the role to get insight into the work.
That may be the case with someone like Paul Heckingbottom, who has been associated with Sunderland, has a lengthy history in the game, and may know Mowbray or perhaps Beale.
So, for Sunderland, it appears that their decision-making in 2023/24, as well as the’model’ and its persistent concentration on youth, have precluded them from employing an experienced manager.
Heckingbottom, for example, may pass on the Sunderland job, its expectations, and the instruments at his disposal because he believes it will end prematurely, as it did with Mowbray.
So it appears that Sunderland will have to take a chance on a manager who is ready to gamble on the club itself; someone young and inexperienced in the game, such as Will Still.
That appears to be the kind of manager Sunderland has always desired, however whether this was by choice or by compulsion remains to be seen.
It’s undoubtedly a challenging position, and the delay in hiring shows that Sunderland has approached people and been turned down, which speaks ill of the club’s owners and the present state of things.
