Sunderland: Mike Dodds makes Tony Mowbray style of play and recruitment claim

The now former interim boss has revealed some of Sunderland’s plans for the summer that link to the old manager

Mike Dodds has revealed what Sunderland’s hopes are for the summer and next season, and linked some of their goals to former manager Tony Mowbray.

During the 2023–2024 regular season, the Championship made some terrible managerial decisions. Without a doubt, the worst of the lot was Birmingham’s choice to replace John Eustace with Wayne Rooney, which set off a series of events that ultimately resulted in their relegation.

However, after Rooney was fired, they did eventually employ Mowbray, and it was a curious move on the part of the Black Cats to split up with the seasoned manager.

They weren’t in a bad spot in the league and had just made it to the play-offs the season before. Following the ineffective leadership of Michael Beale and the unsatisfactory second interim tenure of Dodds, Sunderland ended up in 16th place, three points outside the top six at the time of the 60-year-old’s departure.

Sunderland need to take a slightly different approach this summer. They still haven’t appointed their new head coach, although that decision is expected to be made soon, but the former interim boss has said that the way the club should do things should be more in-keeping with what Mowbray wanted to/did do.

Mike Dodds makes Tony Mowbray admission

The 37-year-old has said that they want to get back to the free-flowing style of play that their former boss had implemented at the club, and that he would like to see some of Mowbray’s transfer ideas used too.

“In terms of the direction, we want to have a certain style of play which I think the fans are completely on board with,” said Dodds, via the Northern Echo.

“It’s the style of play which Tony had that was really free-flowing, it was really entertaining to watch.

“We’ll have a little bit more structure out of possession which I feel, in some of my games, we’ve seen that, but the hard bit is obviously trying to find the balance between the two because you want more structure and organisation, but it takes away from other areas. It’s always that counterweight in finding a balance between the two.

“The recruitment, in terms of how we recruit, isn’t going to change,” continued the former interim head coach. “The club want players with upside. They want players who have a value but there’s a gap between the value and their ceiling.

“I’ve said previously I do feel we need to recruit a couple more players, not in terms of age. When we talk about experience, I’m talking about a couple more players who have a couple of hundred league games under their belt at this level or in and around this level.

“So I do feel the group need that and we as a club probably need a little bit more depth.”

When Mowbray was sacked, it was reported, by the Northern Echo, that he had pushed for more experience to be added to the squad after their play-off semi-final loss to Luton Town.

He diagnosed this lack of nous as the issue, but his ideas fell on deaf ears. Of the list of more experienced players that he wanted to sign, only Bradley Dack was brought in.

This clear misalignment in vision set Mowbray and the hierarchy on a collision course that, in hindsight, was only going to end in his departure.

The right appointment will soften fans’ anger towards the club over Mowbray’s sacking

The fact that Dodds is talking about returning to the play that existed under the 60-year-old’s leadership and recruiting in a way that is somewhat similar to his preferences tells you all you need to know about the club’s decision to let go of Mowbray: it was the wrong one.

Everything went south after that, but if they find the proper man, their dissatisfaction with people like Kristjaan Speakman can be forgotten.

Rene Maric, the manager of Bayern Munich’s under-19 team, Will Still, the soon-to-be former Stade Reims manager, and Danny Röhl, the manager of Sheffield Wednesday, are all receiving “serious consideration,” according to the Northern Echo.

Mowbray’s departure may not seem so bad if one of that trio—or maybe someone else—is appointed and they make Sundland into the team that people like Dodds believe they can be.

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