There seems to be nothing but negativity going on at Sunderland Football Club right now. While there are many aspects of the club that may concern fans, perhaps the most obvious issue is that they can’t seem to win games. Whether it’s in cup competitions or league play, Phil Parkinson is unable to find a winning formula for his Black Cats.
Parkinson started his tenure in the middle of October, taking over from manager Jack Ross (safc.com). The owners replaced Ross with Parkinson in an attempt to kick-start a resurgence in the squad. In his 11 games leading up to his sacking, Ross won seven, lost two and drew two. In his first 11, Parkinson has lost six, drawn three and won just two (WhoScored.com). After the manager’s latest loss, supporters agree that Ross should never have been sacked.
Completely agree with this, on reflection we can now see maybe JR was getting the best out of this group considering the poor recruitment and loss of players like Cattermole etc. Everyone just immediately blames the manager…
— Harry Mason (@masoooon1) November 27, 2019
Stability is one thing, but being stable under the right leadership and style of play is paramount. As @andy_welsh11 says maybe PP isn’t the right manager/style of play so maybe bite the bullet and get someone in who can demonstrate at interview how he’d get the best out of them
— Mark Carrick (@MarkCarrick08) November 27, 2019
But.. Ross sacking may not have been about his performance. Just maybe it might have been deflection from takeover falling through.
— Forza Sunderland (@ForzaSunderland) November 27, 2019
What do you think? Was it the right time to sack Ross?
Should Sunderland have waited until January to make a managerial change?
No
Yes
Many fans indicated that it was the wrong time to make a managerial change. They believe that the manager should have either been sacked in the summer, winter window or end of the season. Making a change just a third of the way through the season was doomed to fail.
They should’ve given Ross until Christmas, then if there was not improvement, Gareth Ainsworth is the man for me. Look at what he’s doing at Wycombe with their resources
— @alanmorton58 (@alanmorton58) November 27, 2019
Well said Andy. JR should’ve went in summer or allowed at least the full season. Totally Wrong to get rid of him a 3rd way through the season
— Sandancer KCH (@sandancer18) November 27, 2019
Should have stay with Ross until January, so that when a new man came in he had finance to change the team, PP is having to play the same players as Ross so getting the same sort of performance, my impression is that there are a couple of players who are not give their all
— Alf Bibby (@alfbibby) November 28, 2019
What do we think?
Hindsight is 20/20. Most fans would give anything to get the results they were getting before Parkinson’s arrival. With that being said though, those results weren’t living up to the expectation of supporters either.