I am sad to see DA go as I believe he is on the right track to improve us. We played WHU off the pitch but let down by basic errors, the biggest thing the best coaches in the world cannot out of the best of players. Had we won on Saturday I wonder if he would have stayed. Either way, the break has been done with dignity and mutual respect by both parties and I hope Dick enjoys his retirement.
Thanks for that. At least he gave the club some breathing space for a successor, unless one is already lined up.
This is an article written Louise Taylor of the Guardian: So how did it come to this? Why has Dick Advocaat’s departure left Ellis Short confronting the failure of yet another blueprint as he seeks his sixth manager in four chaotic years. Sunderland’s owner seems trapped in a metaphorical lift, frantically pushing every available button only to discover that none works and the doors remain shut. In rapid succession, he has experimented with a couple of “old school” British managers followed by a maverick Italian coach, a former star South American midfielder turned rookie manager and, finally, a wily, worldly veteran of football’s international stage. After the traditional model implemented by Steve Bruce and Martin O’Neill floundered, Short turned seriously leftfield and hired Paolo Di Canio, simultaneously introducing a director of football system. When Roberto De Fanti, a former agent, proved a disastrous shopper he was replaced by Lee Congerton, a modern football “technocrat” who had previously served as Chelsea’s chief scout and Hamburg’s director of football. The scene finally seemed set fair at a club that routinely attracts crowds in excess of 40,000, only for the human factor to intrude – most weeks Congerton and Gus Poyet, Di Canio’s successor, were at loggerheads. To Congerton’s dismay, Short undermined his autonomy by permitting the Uruguayan to hire some substandard players. Things briefly looked up after Advocaat’s arrival but having saved Sunderland from relegation last season, the 68-year-old had to be cajoled out of a decision to retire. Once Short decided to restrict his budget, he began regretting that volte face. So now, with Advocaat gone and Congerton apparently working a notice period before his previously stellar reputation suffers real damage, the depressing cycle begins all over again. Will the new manager be Sean Dyche, Nigel Pearson, Sam Allardyce or perhaps even Harry Redknapp? Should the director of football model be ditched? Does Short want a coach keen on the direct counterattacking tactics favoured by O’Neill or would he prefer another go at instilling the possession game advocated by Poyet? Might the new man be a short-term firefighter a la Advocaat or in for a long haul project? On-field formations and off-pitch command structures are, of course, only ever as good as the players and personnel deployed to implement them. Unfortunately Short has, over the years, invested countless millions on a series of £10m-plus signings in the Adam Johnson mould who have rarely justified consistently over-the-odds wages. Advocaat’s misfortune was that his arrival coincided with the American financier resolving to persuade Congerton to source him so-called transfer market “bargains”. It left the one time Zenit St Petersburg coach satisfied with only three summer imports – Jeremain Lens, Fabio Borini and Yann M’Vila. The other new faces – Younès Kaboul, Adam Matthews and company – were really squad players rather than desperately craved upgrades on current first-team stock. There can be little doubt the old guard needs refreshing but this has proved much easier said than done. Significantly both Advocaat and Di Canio started struggling after attempting, in very different ways, to ease out senior professionals including Lee Cattermole, John O’Shea, Wes Brown, Sebastian Larsson and Steven Fletcher. please log in to view this image Dick Advocaat embraces one of his senior players, Lee Cattermole, after survival had been secured at Arsenal in May, but the feelgood factor was not to last. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images While Di Canio was horrified by what he perceived as a chronic lack of professionalism, Advocaat attempted, forlornly, to modernise the team by divesting himself of individuals lacking, among other things, pace. Talk of increasing locker room tensions coming to a head following the recent defeat at Bournemouth fitted a familiarly depressing pattern. Everything had initially been hunky dory when, like O’Neill, Di Canio and Poyet before him, Advocaat arrived with a brief of averting near-certain relegation. The difficulties always begin when Sunderland pull off their annual last-minute escape and the manager starts talking change. A period of decline traditionally ensues with the team only really coming to life against Newcastle – Sunderland have won the last five Tyne-Wear derbies. With hindsight the chief executive, Margaret Byrne, set a dangerous precedent in sacking Di Canio immediately after a cabal of senior pros demanded his removal. An alarming lack of football-related experience in a youthful boardroom appears part of the problem. When Congerton goes, Byrne, a former solicitor, could possibly do with working alongside a streetwise administrator. Born just down the road in Seaham and fully au fait with the north-east psyche, Manchester City’s Brian Marwood would be perfect. Firstly, a manager must be appointed, with whoever accepts one of the game’s biggest poisoned chalices needing to confront some complicated politics at a club where the pathway from academy to first team seems virtually un-navigable. As Advocaat put it, Sunderland are “a great club, with great facilities, a great stadium and the best supporters”. The bad news is that, right now, they also redefine the term “systemic failure”. Maybe she knows things other journos cannot be bothered researching. Interesting that Viera and now Marwood are mentioned in connection with us.
