On Wednesday night last week Sunderland walked away from the DW Stadium after having trounced relegation candidates Wigan Athletic 4-1. It was an assured victory from the away side and one which was kept up their recent resurgence under new manager Martin O’Neill.
Before the Northern Irishman stepped in, the Black Cats were on a torrid run, smarting from three defeats in four games and firmly lodged in the bottom half of the table. Steve Bruce had departed and it looked like the players needed a new lease of life. Fast forward four weeks and the team that triumphed at Wigan looks light years away from the team that lost 2-1 at Wolves on December 4th. You could say that the players have hit a purple patch and were due a good run of results anyway or you could say that Martin O’Neill has stepped into the fray and revitalised the club. I’m going to stick with the latter and here I will explain why.
First and foremost, the appointment of O’Neill as Sunderland’s new manager was a shrewd one. A talented and respected man in the game he certainly is and despite being out of management for over 12 months now, the spark never goes and this has already been proven with four wins from his first six games in charge. Secondly, the appointment would’ve been one which pleased the Sunderland faithful. How they needed a pick-me-up after a tough last few months under Bruce, during which their team looked bereft of ideas and inspiration. Appointing a positive and forward-thinking man such as O’Neill shows that the board have grand ambitions for the club’s future; this is a man that was once touted as Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor at Old Trafford when the Scot announced then rescinded his retirement plans in 2001.
The Northern Irishman’s track record in management speaks for itself. He started out at Wycombe Wanderers in 1990, earning them two promotions and two FA Trophies during a memorable five-year spell but it was at Leicester City via a brief spell at Norwich City where he really started to make a name for himself. Signing in December 1995, he took the club to the Premier League in his first season and thereafter followed three League Cup final appearances, two of which they were triumphant in, and a period of top-flight stability for the club. The Foxes finishing no lower than 10th in O’Neill’s four-and-a-half year stay.
Following a highly successful spell north of the border at Celtic, O’Neill took time out in 2005 to care for his wife Geraldine, returning a year later to take up the reigns at Aston Villa. He guided the club to three successive top six finishes during his spell and almost won them the League Cup in 2010, narrowly losing the final 2-1 to a Wayne Rooney inspired Manchester United team. He departed Villa at the end of the 2009-10 season following a supposed disagreement with chairman Randy Lerner over lack of transfer funds.
Now he finds himself in the Sunderland hotseat, the club who he supported as a boy. They’re nestled safely in 10th position with their eyes firmly on the top six. O’Neill knows he’s at a big club with big ambitions. With him instilling a new found belief in the team, he and his men will be very much looking up rather than down as they enter the second half of this intriguing season. If they sign a new striker (Nicklas Bendtner is simply not the answer) and a dominating centre-half (Titus Bramble is up on his third sex charge) then the Black Cats can be confident of a very strong finish come May.
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