Sunderland Sack Head Coach Lee Johnson After Saturday’s Horror Show

Sunderland head coach Lee Johnson lost his job last night following a 6-0 defeat to Bolton Wanders on saturday.

A huge 5,300 fans travelled down to Greater Manchester, but left furious due to a gutless showing from the Black Cats’.

Johnson was Sunderland’s 5th manager since their relegation from the premier League in 2017, despite having the best win ratio (51.3%) of all of the other coaches, it wasn’t deemed good enough by the board and some fans as they start to cut adrift from the automatic places.

The former Bristol City manager took over on 5th December after Sunderland parted company with Phil Parkinson after a poor start to the season.

Johnson did seem to turn things around with his attacking football as Sunderland started the climb back up the table after a good run of results.

However, The Black Cats’ struggled to keep momentum in the final stages of that season and were made to play in the play offs, where they were knocked out in the semi-final by Lincoln City.

This season has been full of ups and downs for the Mackems as they have had some good runs but also a few bad results along the way.

Sunderland currently only have 2 wins in their last 7 games, with some lethargic performances in that time.

The Black Cats’ current form isn’t promotion worthy, and Saturday’s 6-0 defeat to Bolton has proved to be Lee Johnson’s final game in charge.

Favourites

The current favourite for the job at the moment is former Everton and Newcastle striker, Duncan Ferguson, who’s only current experience in management is 2 short spells as Everton’s caretaker boss.

Former Black Cats’ manager Roy Keane, is also in contention despite being out of management for since he left Ipswich Town in 2011. Keane helped Sunderland gain promotion back to the Premier League back in 2007.

Grant McCann is also up there, having just left Hull City after their recent takeover. McCann helped the Tigers’ gain promotion from league 1 last season.

My Views

Personally, I have never been part of the Johnson out brigade, however I was starting to sit on the fence slightly after recent performances.

Yes we are still in contention, however that can soon change depending on how Wigan and Rotherham get on with their games in hand.

I do think it may have been slightly harsh, but I stand by the club’s decision and I have full faith that they know what they’re doing (I hope!).

Performances have been woeful since that 3-3 draw away to Wycombe, and there was no indication it was going to get better any time soon.

The timing is a bit strange, being the day before deadline day meaning the new manager won’t be given a chance to bring in his own players.

Part of me would like to see Neil Warnock come in on a short term deal, as I believe he has what it takes to take us up!

However, the other part of me wants a young, hungry manager that would hopefully bring in some stability for once.

Overall, despite it being a little bit harsh, and I never like to see a manager lose their job, but I believe the board do want what is best for our club and bring in someone who will give the players that bit more fight that we need going into the final stretch of the season!

Good luck on the rest of your career Lee, thanks for the memories!