Reader’s Corner: Whoever the next Sunderland manager is, they need to be given plenty of time

The news of Phil Parkinson leaving Sunderland wasn’t surprising, was it?

Personally, I had hope, he seemed to have a decent track record in this league, something I feel we needed and sadly, it just didn’t happen, the recent performances were not good enough.

We’re now back in that familiar position of “so who would you get in?” again.

You scroll through social media and see fan’s picks and it’s the same old names over and over and over again and I can’t be the only one that’s thinking why are folk so hell-bent on nostalgia?

You see Roy Keane, Sam Allardyce, Gus Poyet, Peter Reid and Kevin Phillips in the replies or comments and I just can’t understand it.

Roy Keane hasn’t managed since 2011.

Sam Allardyce hasn’t managed since 2018.

Gus Poyet hasn’t managed since 2018.

Peter Reid hasn’t managed since 2014 and Phillips has been part of the backroom staff of three clubs and never managed a club.

You also read names like Nigel Pearson or Eddie Howe, as great as they’d be, can you really see them dropping to League One? I can’t, I really can’t. Howe aside, I feel we should be looking forward and not back.

For me, I think we need to go to a young and up-and-coming manager and gamble.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Maybe that’s Phillips, maybe it’s someone else looking to cut their teeth as a gaffer. If we do and I’ve lost count how many times I’ve said this to people, but I really feel that they need to be given time, not half a season, but actual time and not measure it against where we are in the League after four games.

I say this as, and folk will laugh or spit feathers but I watched an interview on Football Focus with Harry Kewell and he mentioned that he feels new managers need at least three years at a club to stamp their identity on it and make it theirs.

I don’t know why but this made complete sense to me and strangely, I agreed. When’s the last time we gave a manager time? Steve Bruce, believe it or not.

Patience hasn’t been our biggest strength, but I feel now we need to pull the trigger with this kind of stability. Whether it takes one season or three. It took the likes of Leeds, Southampton, Leicester and Bournemouth (albeit now) time to be that bit successful or make it back to the Premier League, maybe this is what we have to accept as fans.

That it could take time.