Can we have faith in Sunderland’s hiring procedure for a new head coach?

“Under Mike Dodds, recent results on the pitch have been poor, and the sense of inertia off the field is equally disturbing”, writes Jon Guy

Sunderland’s recent slump on the pitch has been hugely frustrating, given the way we started the season.

Injuries have played a role and the uncertainty in the dugout and on the training ground won’t have helped the players.

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The absence of wise leaders in the locker room to mentor the young players and assist Mike Dodds and his staff in getting them focused on the game rather than the off-field issues has also evidently affected performances.

Dodds is now the head coach and, as such, the boss, even if he was an integral part of Sunderland’s coaching staffs in the past. Despite his desire to be one, he is not the players’ confidante nor are they his friends.

However, although Kristjaan Speakman and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus looked to have been decisive in their dismissal of Michael Beale, who quickly became a square peg in a round hole, we have to wonder how much time and effort has been invested in seeking the man who’ll be one of the most important appointments in my fifty years of following Sunderland.

Lee Johnson departed without the club having a successor lined up and the same can be said for the aftermath of Tony Mowbray’s exit, with some weeks apparently spent identifying and luring Beale to Wearside.

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We are aware that there are stringent guidelines when it comes to contacting managers, but the football world moves constantly, and I have no doubt that Speakman knows who to contact to find out whether a prospective new head coach would be interested in the Stadium of Light position.

The club administration has consistently told us that they take a “data-led approach” to all of their decisions and that they can access, evaluate, understand, and ideally trust the data they use.

Given the data’s failure when it came to the appointment of Beale, that trust might be wavering a little, but we have to hope that with the January window well behind us, all attention has been focused on identifying the likely candidates to become our head coach at the end of the season.

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Although the club’s love of unearthing a young talented investment has been all too evident, finding the right coach is a high priority.

Until we know who’ll be coaching the team, how can we be trying to identify players that we can attract for next season? Indeed, it pains me to say that although it’s highly unlikely, the relegation trapdoor isn’t firmly closed at present.

As I previously stated, the selection of the new head coach is perhaps one of the most significant, if not the most significant, of the previous fifty years.

We need a player who can lead Sunderland into the Premier League and stick there—which is a tougher assignment than it has ever been, as we’ve seen with Burnley, Sheffield United, and Luton this season.

In addition to gaining the players’ respect, the new head coach will also need to have the tactical acumen to bring out the best in the team and the managerial skills to lead from below.

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Although it’s evident that the hiring process is set, they’ll still need to be able to persuade Speakman and Dreyfus that the model can and ought to be improved.

The question now is whether the hiring committee and the selection procedure that led to Beale’s appointment can provide the kind of motivating choice the team needs for its next full-time employee.

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