Let me throw something out there. Folk can kick it about a bit.
In the last 2 years the so called model has been implemented to an extreme level and it should now be be subject to a reset. As it stands it is failing us. I think it is too experimentally based on young players we cant know will do well, and dare I say it coaches who are in the same boat. It cant work.
Look at the play off team that won at Wembley and the experience we had. Gooch, Wright, Baath, Evans, ONien, Pritchard, Stewart. Then look at the coach we had orchestrating them - someone with play off campaign wins under their belt.
We come up to the Championship and replace Neil with Mowbray. Mowbray still has those players bar Wright. He also has the incredible ability to make young players shine like the brightest stars. The job Mowbray did last season, getting the team into the playoffs, with a brand of football that was magnificent, has to be one of the best coaching performances in a long long time at Sunderland. But why was he seemingly uncertain of his future?
He comes in for the summer, club at a tremendous level and able to bring in some top talent. But we start undermining the value of experience. Baath goes, Evans and Stewart not replaced with lads who can step into the 11. Pritchard and Gooch reportedly given the cold shoulder. All the while we sign lads that might one day be ready to play. Hemir, Mayenda, Adil, Pembele. We take the Bellingham gamble. Oddly we have our own young academy lads who occupy similar positions. Some of our fans had got far too excited at the thought Farioli was coming (as if) and this sexy modern young coach was better than the fella who was performing at an elite level. At the first run of rough form out goes the elite level coach, who has seen it all before, and we leave a lad in charge of coaching younger than the club captain. We try, it seems, to appoint the coach with a media story, and fail. We get Beale, then we sell off the last of the core of the squad that had taken us on the upward spiral. We are left with a coaching team without the know how, players without the know how, and a ship that looks completely rudderless.
Folk know my opinion on the Mowbray sacking. It was way too early and utterly contemptible. Then we jettison the last of the players who can navigate tough times on the pitch. We let players who lead by example go. We fill a squad with technically lovely footballers, like Ba and Adil, but who have yet to learn the game. We have a coach leading them who also has yet to learn the game. All in my opinion of course.
So here we are. Youngest squad. Youngest Owner. Very young coach. Very young Technical Director? If young is ok with you replace with inexperienced. KLD is in his first job. Speakman first time as top man. Dodds very new to team coaching. Where is the experience, at a time like this, who knows what we need? I dont think they are inside the club. Are they?
Now I agree we have improved dramatically since KLD and Speakman arrived. But right now we are in freefall. I believe 100% the reason for that is the complete focus on young talent with resale upside, and of course the sacking of the one fella in the club with experience of the good and the bad.
Folk say the summer is massive. I agree, but I think it may prove to be much harder to correct this course than people think. That is because the inexperienced leadership team are just as likely to make more mistakes as make great decisions. The best thing KLD could do right now, in my opinion, is bring in an old head, who understands the reality of championship football, to act as a consultant to him. I dont mean someone to come be a coach, or be the main man strategically. Rather someone who can be a critical friend and explain the counter argument for the approach we are taking, and explain how a team is best constructed.
Slightly drunken ramble over. I am worried about our overall direction of travel though. And we, better than most, know that 1 summer is not guaranteed to be enough to stop a decline in form.
