Three Changes That Sunderland Have To Make To Get Back On Track
Despite an encouraging start when the club went four games unbeaten in all competitions, it has been a shockingly bad re-entry to Championship life for Sunderland this season so far.
No wins in any of their last 9 league games, a run which has also seen heavy defeats suffered at Barnsley and Ipswich, has left the Wearsiders with just 7 points from 11 games and at a miserable 23rd in the table. What can the club possibly do to turn their fortunes around though? Here we look at three potential changes for the better:
Change The Manager
Fundamentally, I hate this kind of thing. Clubs change managers far too often these days with them being given very little time to improve matters; however that can mask the times when such changes really do need to be enforced.
I commented on these pages last season, rightly or wrongly, that my belief was that Preston North End were outperforming everyone despite the presence of manager Simon Grayson and not because of him. His move to Sunderland allied with the terrific form of his former club would arguably highlight his lack of ability as a coach/man manager at least at this level.
The Championship season is a long one and so biting the bullet and parting company with Grayson now before replacing him with a more skilled coach, assuming the club can find one, could prove to be a very wise move indeed.
Give Away Tickets
In their Premier League past, Sunderland were not averse to giving tickets away to local schools and businesses, much to the hilarity of their neighbours in Newcastle! It happens to be a good move in my opinion though, and this season, the trick should be repeated and done on as big a scale as possible.
Sunderland to this point are averaging an impressive 28,000 attendance for their home games, but that leaves 20,000 empty seats at the Stadium of Light. Those cavernous empty spaces are never a good look and add to a vitriolic atmosphere when high-paying punters feel they have been duped.
Young kids, contributing businesses/sponsors etc could well take those spare seats and perhaps feel simply grateful to be there and have less expectation, thus potentially improving the atmosphere. It’s a long shot and far from a perfect plan, especially since some have paid good money to be there. But 40,000+ people cheering the side on would be a whole heap better than 28,000 booing their own side.
Sell Off Some Assets
Sounds mad, I know. However, the fact is that certain players who still have some transfer value, i.e. Lamine Kone, Didier Ndong and the likes, have not exactly led Sunderland up to the upper echelons of this league.
The club are in dire straits and so selling some of these players off to raise some money could be a great move in order to bring in players who actually have the passion and the knowledge to dominate this league.