Sunderland must be willing to embrace ruthlessness, but Tony Mowbray deserves better
As we watched Sunderland’s fine season finally fade out in play-offs defeat at Luton, there was in no sense at all any feeling of the club being on the brink of change.
In fact, it was quite the opposite. The game felt like a free hit for a club and squad of players on a very natural upward trajectory. If not this season, then next. If not next, the one after. It didn’t really matter. Progression, for the first time in a while, felt inevitable and natural.
It feels remarkable, then, that within hours Tony Mowbray was discussing his own future amid another round of reports of him being replaced over the summer.
Ever since these rumours about Mowbray leaving emerged, and they have been around a few weeks now, my reaction has always been one of outrage at the mere suggestion.
It is probably fair to say that Mowbray was not exactly a universally exciting choice when he was appointed, but it has been impossible to not be won over by him since.
Even if you take the unexpected play-offs qualification out of it, his direct and honest communication with the fans, incredible brand of football and manner with which he dealt with adversity has been outstanding.
And yet, there is also a nagging feeling behind it, and you have to go back ten years and head to the south coast to uncover the roots of it.
In 2013, Southampton were a newly promoted Premier League team just 18 months after being in League One. Those back-to-back promotions were achieved by the impossible-to-dislike Nigel Adkins.
Their start in the Premier League had been poor, but they were recovering and sat 15th in the table following a battling 2-2 draw at Chelsea. That point was to be Adkins’ last.
When he was sacked, the condemnation from the wider footballing world was universal, as it was from the Southampton fans who had seen a manager who over-achieved discarded so suddenly and unfairly.
Because, after all, there are rules in football, right? Managers are fair game for all the criticism in the world, but in return we acknowledge sackings must be justified by results. Adkins did not deserve the sack. We all knew it, we all said it, even when the relatively unknown Mauricio Pochettino walked through the door to replace him.
“This decision has been made with the long-term ambitions of Southampton Football Club in mind,” then Saints chairman Nicola Cortese explained. “Whilst we acknowledge the contribution Nigel has made during the past two years, for the Club to progress and achieve our long-term targets a change was needed.”
And, for all the criticism, hindsight more than justified the club’s decision as the correct one. Southampton have just been relegated to the Championship, but they owe ten years of Premier League prosperity to taking the unpopular decision.
Ultimately, Adkins was a victim of his own success. He got Southampton to a point where they could attract a higher-calibre head coach. There was no guarantee how long that window would remain open, so they took their opportunity.
Was it ruthless? Absolutely. Was it unfair on Adkins? Grossly. It was the right decision, though.
Although Sunderland did not manage to make it to the Premier League at the first time of asking, there can be little doubt the club’s stock has raised considerably within the game in the last 12 months.
It has become a destination club for top young players now, as evidenced by the signings made in January. Joe Gelhardt had the pick of half the Championship, but he wanted Sunderland. Isaac Lihadji has played Champions league football and still has plenty of admirers in Europe - he wanted Sunderland too. The fact Sunderland are even in the conversation for Jobe Bellingham is further testament to it.
For the first time in a long time, Sunderland are seen as a progressive club on the rise and a club to which you can entrust your reputation. Throw in the fanbase, the history, the stadium, the facilities and the squad already here, and it’s very easy to see why top young coaches would covet Mowbray’s position.
Are Matthias Jaissle, Francesco Farioli and Gerhard Struber next level coaches on Mowbray? It’s impossible to say really. Are they even targets for Sunderland or merely potential succession plans?
There appears to be a lot of uncertainty over it all right now, but what we do know for sure is that Mowbray felt the need to raise the issue of his future himself during his press conference after Luton.
I don’t like that. For me, Sunderland finally feels like there is a bit of stability, with a good quality manager who is highly suitable to the club and desperately wants to stay. Stability feels too hard-earned to simply throw away now. Plus, I genuinely really like Tony Mowbray.
But is that sentiment obscuring opportunity? If Southampton had chosen sentiment and fairness all those years ago, it’s almost certain they would not have had the era that they did.
Perhaps, then, there is a lot to be said for the ruthless route? Either way, it’s lovely to see that Sunderland have some great options again – Tony Mowbray being very much one of them.
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