:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50169271/GettyImages-543397862.0.jpg)
During the long flight across the Atlantic, at about that point where you're sick of watching heavily edited movies, listening to endless podcasts and paying a fiver for a tiny can of Stella, I started to think of being disconnected from football in a positive way.
The only time I'll think of Sunderland is when I'm taking daft photos in front of famous landmarks, while holding up a replica shirt. I wouldn't be endlessly checking for transfer rumours, I'd just find out when things actually developed. Great! It'll be a nice surprise when I wake up and see that Yann M'Vila has signed a five year deal, Diafra Sakho will provide Jermain Defoe with competition up front and we've signed an exotic full back that I'll pretend I've heard of.
Instead though, the sporadic Twitter checks were to see if yet another manager would be leaving Sunderland. Not in the fashion we've all became accustomed to though, not through us ushering the gaffer out of the door. This time, it's because they're leaving to take on a much bigger task and you can't really blame them for that. The England job has always been Sam Allardyce's dream and this was always going to be his last chance to take the reigns of the national team. I'm disappointed but Big Sam has left us in a far stronger position than when he walked into the Academy of Light last October, I'll certainly remember him fondly.
The biggest downside of it all, is the timing of it. We're slap bang in the middle of pre-season and we still haven't brought in any new signings due to the managerial limbo, all because the FA had to humour people like Steve Bruce and dithered around instead of being forthright and making a decision. They've messed us about and set us back weeks.
If this had even came a month earlier, and if you felt like being ultra positive, you could see this as our moment when Southampton let Nigel Adkins go or even when Allardyce left West Ham. The man appointed to steady the ship has done his bit, time to take it up a level. It's hard to look on our position that gleefully, given that the season kicks off in just under two weeks, but it's still not the end of the world.
Martin Bain may not have been in the Chief Executive chair very long, and he can't have envisioned such a crazy first month in the gig as this, but hopefully he's running himself into the ground to find a successor. David Moyes is the bookies favourite and will be the most seamless transition, it's not exactly one to the get pulse racing but we'll continue to be solid while having a good chance of moving on from constant relegation battles. Saying that, I wasn't too excited by Sam and the second half of last season was some of the most enjoyable football I've seen us play in years.
So, best of luck to Sam Allardyce in charge of England. He's the hero they need and the one they deserve right now. It's always easy to point at what the winners have just done and say "let's do that" but England's best chance of success is to emulate what Portugal did at the Euros. The best man to build that platform is Big Sam. Say what you like about him but we sure as hell won't lose to Iceland on his watch and you won't be seeing Harry Kane on corners. Also, if Chris Coleman can guide Wales to a semi final, don't tell me Sam Allardyce can't do something similar.
For Sunderland though, let's hope our new manager is appointed quickly and we can get back to the usual summer activity of checking for transfer rumours. It would be nice to have my post holiday blues soothed by at least one new signing.
