On Saturday, 26th November 2011, a chorus of boos rang out around the Stadium of Light. Sunderland were defeated 2-1 by Wigan, thanks to an injury time winner from Franco di Santo. By the following Wednesday, Steve Bruce had been sacked. 16 months later, it is once again Wigan Athletic who have rung the death knell for a Sunderland manager.
Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Manchester United could not have come as a shock. Sunderland never looked likely to score, but expectations going into the game were that defeat was inevitable.
More important has been the annual late-season resurrection of Wigan’s fortunes, which sees the Black Cats drawn once again into the relegation mire. Club owner Ellis Short has seen it fit to act, his club’s Premier League status in peril. Yesterday evening, Martin O’Neill was relieved of his duties.
O’Neill was the man the club had craved for so long. A Sunderland fan, he was often linked with the (almost perennial) vacancies at the club, but one of a series of factors had always kept him away. The stars eventually aligned for him to come, yet it ended in supernova.
Being in a relegation battle is nothing new for Sunderland, who have been the definitive yo-yo club for fifty years. This six-year stay in the Premier League is as long as any spell the club has had in a single division since first losing its place in the top flight, in 1957-8.
The appointment of O’Neill was meant to change all that, heralding a new era. A proven top flight manager alongside a chairman willing to provide the funds for the club to take the next step. His first three months in charge saw Sunderland sky-rocket from the edge of the relegation zone into the top half of the Premier League. Even dreams of Europe, albeit fleeting, were hatched.
It included a roller-coaster ride of memorable moments: a come-from-behind victory over Blackburn in his first game and the famous last-gasp winner by Ji Dong-Won against Manchester City springing to mind, plus the club’s best cup run since 2004.
Sadly, those memorable moments largely subsided in his second season, replaced by some of the most forgettable football the Premier League has ever seen. Sunderland do not ship lots of goals; they usually concede one or two, typically scrappy or the result of errors. But nor do they score often enough, or even look likely to do so.
The current team has built a justified reputation for being the tawdriest in the league. As it stands, Sunderland are a club which most neutrals would happily see consigned to the Championship, rather than clogging up the lucrative Premier League TV slots with unwatchable football.
Most Sunderland fans did not advocate the sacking of O’Neill, in stark contrast to that game against Wigan when every man and his dog were baying for Steve Bruce’s head. Nearly 44,000 cheered them on against Manchester United and the club continues to have a fan-base which belies its rather modest catchment area.
Yet for months, as Sunderland drifted from one poor performance to the next, questions lingered. Where was the famed man-motivator, the master tactician, the meticulous planner? This year, the players have appeared particularly uninspired, with only goalkeeper Simon Mignolet (perhaps that says it all) standing out. Stars from last season, like James McClean, Stephane Sessegnon, Seb Larsson and Craig Gardner, have declined, while big money-signing Adam Johnson has had little impact.
Meanwhile O’Neill seems to have vacated his ability to change a game like he had done in his curtain-raiser against Blackburn. 2-0 deficits became insurmountable, 1-0 margins a mountain to climb. Even against ten men, Sunderland have been toothless in attack and struggled to break down opposing teams.
Sunderland fans are all too aware of these flaws. Had O’Neill and Sunderland gone their separate ways at the end of the season, be it after relegation or survival, I suspect the majority would have accepted that state of affairs.
To make the move with seven games to go, though, suggests desperation. As Wigan climb up the table and close in on the teams above, Sunderland’s recent slide makes them appear most likely to fall through the trap-door. Fans are all too aware of what could happen next. In 2008-9, neighbours Newcastle United gave Alan Shearer eight games to lift them away from trouble: they were relegated.
The timing, after a narrow defeat due to an own goal against the Champions-elect, does seem strange. It is made stranger still as it comes after the international break, surely an ideal time for any new manager to settle in.
The timing reveals more, though. Sackings on a Saturday evening usually suggest that the owner: (a) had already decided that the afternoon’s game was win or bust, and (b) has a replacement lined up. Musings from the local press suggest the latter to be true, and former England manager Steve McClaren looks the early front-runner.
Should McClaren, or whoever else is appointed, lift Sunderland to safety, all involved at the club will breathe a huge sigh of relief. Yet despite the clear and unquestionable flaws in Sunderland’s play throughout this season, if the club are relegated people will certainly ask the question: what if faith had been kept in Martin O’Neill? Only time will tell which scenario becomes reality.
The appointment of O’Neill was Sunderland’s Obama moment: a long sought-after leader, preaching a message which instilled hope in all who followed. ‘Hope’ is a strange emotion to the Sunderland fan, each possessing a lifetime of experience which instructs them against it. O’Neill was the man to change all that, but it has ended in tears. Sunderland’s wait for a managerial Messiah continues.