Football Season Guide

2023/24 was a season to forget for Sunderland. The decision to sack the personable Tony Mowbray in December looked an increasingly strange one the longer the campaign went on. Mowbray had led the club to the play-offs the previous season and, despite a poor run of form, was only three points off the top six places in 9th when he was dismissed. Another questionable move from the board was to appoint Michael Beale, which was met by scepticism from the fans after he’d been sacked by Rangers. A 0-3 home defeat in his first game in charge set the tone for a calamitous twelve game tenure for Beale where he lost half of them. Assistant coach Mike Dodds, who’d twice previously come in at the helm, took over until the end of the season but continued to insist he didn’t want the job on a permanent basis. The results and performances produced under Dodds would’ve probably disregarded him from the running anyway as the Black Cats slumped to a 16th place finish. The club have taken another gamble with French coach Regis Le Bris for the coming season. While fans met Beale’s appointment with scepticism, many have reacted to the relatively unknown Le Bris with slight bemusement. Le Bris’ only senior managerial experience was with Lorient in Ligue 1, where he finished 10th in his first season but was relegated last term. He will have to hit the ground running to convince the Wearside faithful. Sunderland already have a talented young squad at their disposal which should be performing a lot better. Jack Clarke was leading scorer in the Championship for several weeks until an injury saw his season fizzle out. Jobe Bellingham has a lot of pressure on his shoulders due to his famous older brother, but showed glimpses of potential. The biggest hole in the squad last season was up front. Despite having a number of strikers on their books, none of the three managers seemed to be convinced by any of them and a midfielder was almost always used as a False 9. That problem has yet to be addressed in the transfer market, although former Preston captain Alan Browne looks like a good piece of business to add quality in midfield.