This post is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which features personal comments from FLW Fan Pundits on breaking news, teams, players, managers, possible signings, and more.

Sunderland have lost their past six games, including four under Mike Dodds after Michael Beale’s dismissal.

The Black Cats opted to break ways with Beale after just 12 games in charge, and have appointed Dodds as caretaker manager until the end of the season, giving plenty of time for a new manager to take over in the summer.

However, Sunderland fans are concerned about the present scenario, as the team has lost four games in a row since Dodds’ reappointment, including a 2-1 loss to Swansea City at the Stadium of Light and a setback to Southampton on Saturday.

Dodds has unable to replicate his previous success as temporary manager of Sunderland, when he won two games before being replaced by Michael Beale. Only Rotherham United, the league’s worst club, has a longer six-game losing run.

Mike Dodds’ Impact at Sunderland

FLW’s Sunderland fan analyst, Jack Austwicke, is skeptical of Dodds’ long-term tenure following a rocky start as temporary manager.

He stated, “Mike Dodds is not a manager, right? He’s a competent coach, and he’s popular with the players, by all accounts.

“But he isn’t a manager; not yet at this level.

“He had a good run with Tony Mowbray and Michael Beale, but you can only see it.

“I don’t want to put all of the responsibility on him because he’s dealing with scraps, basically.

“It’s difficult to blame the players, either, since they’ve been hung out to dry in certain ways.

“However, Dodds will not be in the race for the permanent role. “I believe we can safely say that.”

Sunderland’s long-term ambitions

The appointment of Beale by Sunderland’s board in December was clearly a mistake. When they fired Mowbray, they simply had to pick someone who would be popular with supporters, as the choice was not widely accepted at the time.

Championship table (As it stands March 12th)
	Team	P	GD	Pts
5	West Bromwich Albion	37	21	63
6	Norwich City	37	12	58
7	Hull City	37	7	58
8	Coventry City	37	16	57
9	Preston North End	36	-6	53
10	Cardiff City	37	-6	53
11	Middlesbrough	36	0	50
12	Sunderland	37	3	47
13	Bristol City	37	-1	47
14	Watford	37	1	45

The club has opted to give itself time by naming a caretaker manager until the end of the season, so they will be looking at prospective options between now and then, but their play-off chances appear to be dashed.

Sunderland has progressively slipped away in 2024, and it does not appear that things will improve very soon, as the team failed to build on a promising debut season back in the second division previous season.

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