New owner has plans for Kevin Ball Stewart Donald aims to fully utilise the strengths of ‘Mr Sunderland’ Kevin Ball. The club legend, who currently has the role of club ambassador, is well thought of by the new regime and could be set for a new role. Donald will sit down for further talks with Ball about potential roles, but the new owner admits that he thinks the former skipper will be ‘heavily involved’ in the club’s academy. The former captain had been tipped to lead the academy following Jimmy Sinclair’s retirement, but Paul Reid has been confirmed as the new academy manager. A former football league defender, Reid had been working in a backroom role at Eastleigh, the club formerly owned by Donald. When asked about Ball and what the future may hold for him, Donald spoke in glowing terms. Donald, speaking to A Love Supreme, said: “I’ll need to speak to him, but I envisage him helping Paul Reid to run the Academy and be more involved in that than what he’s doing. “We need to utilise his strengths, which are definitely around the coaching staff and the coaching. There are a couple of roles there for him, and I see him being heavily involved. “He is Mr. Sunderland and he is probably the most impressive person I’ve spoken to since I have arrived here. He’s been frustrated by what’s gone on here, he gets what the problems are, and has his own views on the solutions." “He obviously has passion, energy and desire to make sure that the club is successful, so I think he has a big part to play in the Academy and throughout the club. What his title is going to be, I’m not quite sure yet.” Sunderland’s new owners have previously spoken about their commitment and desire to maintain the club’s category one academy status, and this could prove to be a good move. All of the players that came through the academy when he was coaching speak very highly of him, and he's Sunderland through and through.
Our coaching has been a weakness for many years, mainly at first team level, and only Robbie Stockdale has bucked the trend imo, players speaking highly about coaches is not how I would judge them tbh.
