Fan Letters: “Lee Johnson now needs time, and for the fans to get behind him and Speakman”

Dear Roker Report,

Earlier in the week I wrote a piece about remaining positive, but on Saturday Sunderland have announced the appointment of Johnson as manager. Yet another stupendously stupid decision by the club!

When Parky was appointed we knew what to expect from his record - a win rate of about 33%. That’s exactly what we got. Johnson’s record suggests he’ll provide some winning streaks followed by at least as many losing streaks. Ultimately he will be pretty average and he won’t see out his full contract. It’s all the more annoying because Cowley and others were available.

I just can’t face going through this cycle of inevitable disappointment again so I’m going to take a break from football for a year or so while I devote time to other things. I hope I’m wrong but after 56 years, I’m just fed up of numbskull decisions and inevitable disappointment so I’m going to take a break from it and find some other interests that involve people with IQ’s that don’t start with a decimal point.

Andrew White

Ed’s Note [Gav]: You’re well within your rights to feel down Andrew - things have really never been worse at Sunderland. I’m giving Johnson a fair crack of the whip, though. I think we all should give new managers (and players for that matter) a chance to prove themselves before we write them off - LJ talks a good game and I like the sound of the things that he and Speakman have proposed. Importantly, they’ve both said that short term we need to fix the first team... hopefully that means signing some decent players.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Getty Images

Dear Roker Report,

Lee Johnson is young - not the same old, same old we have gone for in the past.

He’s managed in the championship - in my eyes he’s the right choice.

We interviewed Sol Campbell, which I thought was a strange one with his experience so far in football, and that doesn’t say much for Rodwell, our beloved CEO, and what he knows about football...apparently nothing, if Sol had got the job.

It’s the first time I have been optimistic for years, with the appointments of Johnson and Speakman - just what the club needed... a total fresh look.

Lee Johnson now needs time, and for the fans to get behind him and Speakman.

What I have read suggests that they will both give youth a chance, and a opportunity to thrive, which is good to hear. No offence, but if we had gone for Sol Campbell the reaction would have left me and many fans gobsmacked, which would have been typical Sunderland.

Lee Johnson has the chance to take this club back to winning ways, and upwards and onwards - hopefully playing the football we all want to see at the club; the kind that fans deserve after years of despair. I wish the lad all the best - come on Lee, etch your name into Sunderland folklore and gets us all smiling again.

Mark Wild

Ed’s Note [Gav]: I echo your words about Johnson - he deserves every chance to be successful here. I’m hoping we can give him time, and that this is finally the end of Sunderland making short-term appointments.

On Campbell, I might be wrong here but I think that the club are obliged to interview a BAME candidate. That’s not to say he wasn’t considered as a serious contender, but it may just be that they were fulfilling their obligations with that one.

Photo by Steven Hadlow/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images