It took a quick glance at the results from the 2017/2018 season to remind myself why I completely erased this season from my memory. It was a nightmare from start to finish; so bad, in fact, that I would rather watch a film directed by Edward D. Wood Jr (once rated the world’s worst film director) than any loosely labelled ‘highlights’ from this season.
It started with former Leeds United and Preston North End manager Simon Grayson being appointed during the summer of 2017, and whilst not exactly
the ‘sexy’ apppointment that some Sunderland fans may have anticipated, he was an experienced Championship manager who most thought could at least stabilise a club in apparent freefall.
However, one win in fifteen games was evidence that Grayson didn’t appear to have the charm or guile to get the best out of a group that looked better on paper in comparison to the results they actually delivered.
Grayson was then replaced by former Wales manager Chris Coleman, whose stock was at this time sky high given his results with the Welsh national team — especially during Euro 2016.
Coleman was charming and bullish in his first press conference as Sunderland manager, exuding confidence and belief that he’d be able to steer the club out of trouble after a torrid first part of the season. Unfortunately for Coleman, he struggled to back up his strong talking game with results on the pitch and in his first seventeen games up until this point in 2018, he’d only managed four wins.
Truthfully, the club was an absolute joke both on and off the pitch; a true embarrassment to all its fans and it seems clear now that even if Pep Guardiola had taken over this bunch, the ship was already sinking and only going one way.
Before it got to that point, Coleman was still hanging onto hope with new signings such as Ashley Fletcher, Kazenga Lua Lua and Ovie Ejaria all joining in the hope of making a difference. Unfortunately for the Welshman, all of his players kept getting injured — with Paddy McNair arguably the one player in the squad that possessed a bit of quality.
In what would turn out to be one of his many rallying calls, Coleman insisted that his team could still survive if they showed some of the heart, character and determination that many managers speak of.
I know there’s been a lot said about formations and this, that and the other. But I say again it’s a state of mind and mentality. If you really want something to work, you will make it work.
Formations and tactics, they can help but where we are, it’s all about heart, it’s about courage and personality and mentality, state of mind, all those old fashioned words. We’ve just got to have plenty of that and we will give ourselves a real good chance.
If we do that more often than not we will get points. It’s not easy but it’s very doable. There will be a time when we win and it will change the face of everything.
Unfortunately, results didn’t change and the manager — a married man with six kids — exited through the front door into the firing line of Sunderland fans outside the Stadium of Light after our relegation was confirmed at home to Burton Albion.
