absolute shite to suggest it's not his fault at all.
I don't agree with that. For starters, Leicester had won the Championship to earn promotion. Their players had a basic idea of what was necessary to win. They also had a very favourable second half of the season and were largely in the funk they were in the first half, because of a mixture of errors and Pearson's mismanagement. In Ranieri, they appointed a manager, who despite his reputation for tinkering, opted to do nothing major, other than a few significant tweaks, such as moving Vardy upfront, rather than on the flanks. He largely kept Leicester to a set style of playing and identity that over the course of the season reaped dividends.
Sunderland's situation is far different. They are the classic "bigger" club who goes down, due to years of mismanagement (see: Villa, Newcastle, West Ham for recent examples. Sunderland have no set identity or long-term plan. Since 2010/2011, when they finished 10th with 47 points, they've been in decline almost every year.
2010/11 - 10th (47 points)
2011/12 - 13th (45 points)
2012/13 - 17th (38 points)
2013/14 - 14th (38 points)
2014/15 - 16th (38 points)
2015/16 - 17th (39 points)
In that spell, they've had 7 different permanent managers, signed 91 players, only reached 40+ points twice, had three different CEOs and two Directors of Football. Their recruitment, player development and scouting is awful and has been for years. They don't develop their own players, despite the North East being a fertile area for bringing in decent PL level players at Newcastle and Middlesborough in recent years. Since 2010/11, only three of their homegrown players have played five or more PL games: Henderson, Colback and Pickford. During that same spell, they've had 7 former Man Utd youth players on their team. They've also only made a profit on at least nine players that they have sold during that spell.
The
Secret Footballer has noted that within the game it is well-known that Sunderland have a drinking culture at the club. Various former Sunderland managers ranging from
Poyet to
Di Canio to
Advocaat have suggested that there is something wrong at the club, ranging from the players to the recruitment policy. Given what Sunderland have at their disposal (large, newish ground; sizeable attendances; decent amount of annual spending), they should be doing better than fighting off relegation each year. I think part of their problem is there is no identity, no vision, no accountability. The Adam Johnson case being the most extreme example of the latter.
If you aren't going to develop your own players, you better have some fixed type of playing identity to simplify recruitment. Swansea for the most part were like this until recently, but as soon as they strayed from their style of players, they have begun to slip and the cracks in their recruitment have become more apparent. Southampton have a sizeable turnover of players and managers each year, but they make it work. They develop their own players. They recruit managers and playing staff based on a certain style of play. They make sizeable profits on many of their signings with a ready made replacement. Sunderland don't do any of those things. They have had a hodge podge recruitment strategy with players left over from several different managers and directors of football. The slapdash, throw shit at the wall approach was best typified during Roberto Fanti's short-lived reign as DoF, with Duncan Watmore being the only permanent signing left, although they later resigned Borini permanently.
Sunderland have lucked out the past couple of seasons. When they've needed wins later in the season, they've improbably got them. Allardyce's signings of Kone, Kirchoff and Khazri kept them up last season. The season prior, they needed a striker and fortunately for them Defoe has turned into their only goal outlet; yet he's signed to a ridiculous deal that will pay him £80k a week until he's 36 (he's now incidentally signed to a deal that keeps him there until he's nearly 37). This is the same side that gave the massively injury-prone, soon to be 32 year old Wes Brown a four year deal not too long ago. But then again, Sunderland have tended to rely on these types of signings, because they either don't have the patience or the resources (or a combination of both) to develop younger players.
This summer was just another typical chapter in Sunderland's book of how not to run a PL club. Hesitating over signings and transfer policy mid-summer, only for Allardyce to leave and for Ellis Short to get his dream manager David Moyes take over. And yet, a club with a 34 year old Defoe and a hit-and-miss Borini as their only true forwards, didn't bother to sign another forward early on to lessen the burden on Defoe. Instead, they ended up taking Victor Anichebe on a free, after he was released by West Brom. The same Victor Anichebe who had scored six PL goals in 55 games for West Brom. They needed a new back-up keeper after letting Steve Harper go in the summer. Instead of making it a top priority, they dithered about, had Mannone get injured, which resulted in Pickford having to play, culminating with Sunderland pleading with FIFA after deadline day to allow them to sign Mika on loan from Boavista. And then there are the other two key summer signings: Papa Djilobodji and Didier N'Dong.
They paid Chelsea £8m for Papa Djilobodji, who had cost them £2.7m and had been poor with a dreadful Werder Bremen side on loan. According to Lorient they paid €20m for N'Dong, who couldn't believe their luck that someone was willing to pay them that much. Now bare in mind, they could have paid Rubin Kazan £8.5m to sign Yann M'Vila early, rather than waiting until January when they could get him on a free. That would be the same M'Vila, who had already played for Sunderland and was desperate to sign for them, to the point that he sat in a lounge at Heathrow waiting for the conclusion of a deal, only for them to later rebuff his calls.
As others have said, they are in a situation similar to Villa, in that they have no real saleable assets, due to years of transfer mismanagement and a penchant for loans. If you look at the players, they let go this summer, that included Giaccherini, who they sold for around £2m despite having a decent Euros to a team that just pocketed a massive fee for Gonzalo Higuain. Of the players they sold or released, this summer, they had originally cost them collectively an estimated £37m and were sold for around £10m. That's a difference of around £27m, the bulk of which goes to releasing former £12m signing Steven Fletcher on a free. The only one of those they likely made any money on was Jordi Gomez, who they signed on a free and sold for £500,000. You cannot be a team on Sunderland's resources and be making collective losses like that every season.
Everton were willing to pay a significant sum for Kone in the summer. I doubt they or anyone would else would anywhere near the £20m mooted fee now. Someone would probably buy Kirchhoff and Van Aanholt, maybe Defoe on a shorter deal or Pickford, if he wanted out. People have argued that Sunderland is a less desirable place for players, which results in higher wages being offered to lesser players. But is it any worse than Swansea, Southampton or Middlesborough? The latter have managed to bring in Victor Valdes, who no matter what you think of him at this stage of his career, is still a former CL and World Cup winner, who could have easily opted to spend his remaining days playing in the MLS or the Middle East.
I think what really stops players from going there is that they are a basket case of a club. They should be planning for relegation now. Invest more time and effort in bringing through younger players and dumping the players who won't help them in the Championship. And rather than trying to sign some fanciful player in January, they should be looking at who will get them back in the PL at a first attempt, which at a glance of the current squad, won't be happening. This has been a long-time coming. Sunderland would be in denial, if they think otherwise. This isn't just about Moyes, it runs deeper than that. This is what happens when you chronically mismanage a team at all levels. Moyes has clearly realized early on that there is something systemically wrong there. But then again he wasn't the right choice, principally because the last time he was in a genuine relegation scrap with Everton and having to pluck bargains out of the Championship was well over a decade ago. But their current situation isn't all down to him. They've had wake-up calls and reprieves, but they haven't opted to change the culture of that team from top to bottom. They very well might have to now.
