The only surprise for me is the timing. My opinion is that Mowbray was only ever intended to be here until last summer. I think maybe even he knew that, hence the comments after the playoffs saying he didnt know if he'd be here. He was here as an experienced hand to get us settled in the Championship, and was a "convenient" appointment at a time where they wanted to move quickly due to what happened when Johnson left. They didn't want to have three games with a caretaker again, and so had to move quickly and he was an obvious fit. He was local, experienced, and good with youth. He was the perfect candidate for consolidation but perhaps not, on paper, for long term progression. So I think the plan was to then appoint the long term manager in the summer. Then Speakman got cold feet, for understandable reasons. As Mowbray far exceeded anybodies expectations. Mowbray's contract was extended completely on the quiet, not announced by the club at all. I think it only got "announced" during a podcast with Speakman? It just all seemed like a temporary thing, even then. You'd like to therefore think, if the plan was to replace him long term, that the "long term" candidate has been identified and has been sounded out as being available NOW. Normally you'd expect such changes to happen in the summer. But as others have said, in a way it makes sense to do it now to let that person settle and get to know the players. But if that person isn't available now, and we have to move to a compromise, it will be most disappointing.
I’ve not read the whole thread so apologies if this is from where your conversation/point started but someone on RTG who knows JC’s family (he’s genuine) has said that several senior players, including JC, have been pretty disillusioned with Mowbray this season and were involved in going to see Speakman after Mowbray rebuffed their concerns (and told them to go to Speakman). I’m not sure what the etiquette is here but I’m assuming that linking to another SAFC forum would be frowned upon, hence the paraphrasing.
There will be reviews between loan club and us it’s all built in. They watch games. It’s more than feasible Burstow and Chelsea met with Speakman as a normal process and Speakman flagged it up to try to resolve it and get the best out of the player. I know people say ‘**** other clubs players’ but keeping top premier league clubs happy is important on our journey. Doesn’t mean we pick out of form players but we make sure we try to keep all parties happy. I do think Speakman probably rules with too much inflexibility but he also in this case has to manage the big picture.
Probably daft but could the cup draw have contributed to the timing. Concern over a spanking (and I means proper thrashing) on home turf in the derby has expedited their want to bring in someone more tactically astute.
I've always assumed the players liked him. But Mowbray's demeanor has been noticeably different this season as far as I've seen. I know its a bit "hindsighty' of me, but the more I think about it, the more this has seemed utterly inevitable since that playoff interview. I think most of us wanted to believe it wasnt true, but now I'm pretty confident that Mowbray and Speakman fell out over it big time, and so this was always likely to happen as soon as bad form hit and sustained.
The thing we don t think about in this context is that Mowbray could have walked and we needed to have a plan B
I was the same in my assumptions. The accusations were though that Mowbray doesn’t seem as invested, that training has become stale and match preparations non existent. They didn’t like the way he was going on about the strikers either apparently. Again I’m paraphrasing what the lad says but that’s the main points.
Long term would be great. Getting someone who can grow with the club but we are a club in transition and still in the championship if we get promoted then no guarantees the new lad can manage in the premier. Think we just have to go with the flow I can see lots of change over the next few years
The first thing a player does is show something on the pitch. This lad has had more chances than other forwards and done nothing . It's not always someone else's fault.
lets see who comes in and how well he does with the players the recruitment team has delivered. We can then judge how good or bad Mowbray was
Having had some time to process it, in truth we probably can all admit the season to date has been a little disappointing. Healthy position for sure, but to have no goals from strikers points firmly at an issue with system and setup, which many have alluded to. Teams have sussed out we are one dimensional, doesn’t matter how pretty it looks if no end product. Loved Mowbray as a fella but his pressers were wild at times and it had started to feel like we’d hit a wall or ceiling, which given the individual talent we have makes no sense. The one that’s bugged me all season is the handling of Hemir. We all know the lads a bit short, but he came into the season having scored a few goals and looked like he needed a bit of spit and polish. I commented at time that for Mowbray to publicly single him out a wee bit after the Ipswich game was poor, and then a lot of fans jumped on back of this and wrote him off, confidence absolutely destroyed, was so badly handled and publicised. There’s been less and less praise from the players from the gaffer and really through the Swansea and Huddersfield games on particular the lack of adaptability was painful and we have all seen it. In summing up, a freshen up probably is a plan, and to have someone who can be fluid and change the team (and system) makes a lot of sense. ‘give it to Jacky’ is all well and good until Jacky is clamped out of the game or has an off day (or leaves). We have midfield options too play a 3, 4 or 5 but have stuck almost rigid, and bringing Hume inside hasn’t worked at all (Cirkin of course always a massive and underrated loss) He’s been a diamond and I’ve nothing but love and respect for him, but if we get this right we can start moving forward again and that’s what we all want for our club. We have been high profile with Sky again and we have shown up in TV games in the main, there will be proper interest from proper good candidates. Generally even if we’ve questioned initially the club have got it right last 2-3 years so let’s keep the faith that continues and the right fit is found. Whatever happens, it’s our club and we need to support it.
Amen to that. Seeing a lot on twitter critising "Speakmans plan" or "KLDs model" etc etc Its actually Sunderland's plan and Sunderland's model. And it isn't going away. And its so far given us the most exciting times to be a Sunderland fan in my lifetime. So they have carte blanche to an extent with me.
