Sunderland's stability has been incredibly hard-earned, and Tony Mowbray has become a vital part of it

Have Sunderland finally found their long-term manager in Tony Mowbray?

Michael Graham | Jan 12, 2023

Sunderland's stability has been incredibly hard-earned, and Tony Mowbray has become a vital part of it /

It’s no secret that Sunderland have found stability very difficult to find in recent times. In fact, it has become something of a holy grail at times.

A lot of that was due to the constant precarious nature of the club’s final few years in the Premier League.

A little like Everton appear to be doing now, Sunderland got themselves in something of a cycle of self-destruction. The short-term suffering required for long-term gain was considered too great to bear, and so stability became little more than a pipedream.

But, of course, as we know, everything was just a stop gap. Somewhere along the line during those Premier League years, Sunderland as a club became critically wounded, and sticky-plaster solutions could only keep the club on its feet for so long.

When it fell, it fell hard. No one needs reminding of that. The result was years of bleeding out in League One and crikey was it painful. If a decade of Premier League football was a pleasure, four years in League One was the penance, and I am not sure it was worth it.

What it did do, though, was allow the club to finally rid itself of its shackles. When you hit the bottom, which Sunderland did just during the Covid-19 pandemic when an eighth-place finish in the third tier was confirmed, the simple choice is whether you pick yourself up or let yourselves rot. Thankfully, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus came with the energy and ambition of a young man yet the wealth of an old one and the club chose the former.

It's actually quite remarkable, looking back sometimes at just how low those days were. I was reminded of Marc McNulty the other day. I just came across his name when researching a feature. Hand on heart, I had forgot he even played for Sunderland. I wouldn’t recognise him if he passed me in the street.

He’s not alone, either. Laurens de Bock? What was that all about? Kazaiah Sterling?! He’s currently playing in the third tier of US soccer with South Georgia Tormenta after a short spell in the Isthmian League with Potters Bar Town. What were Sunderland thinking? He scored for Sunderland, apparently.

Anyway, the point is that those days are over. The penance has been paid, and Sunderland feels like a reborn football club rather than a critically wounded one.

Those #SAFC League One years were weird. Loads of players played for the club back then who I’ve completely forgotten about and wouldn’t recognise if I saw them.

Take this bloke, for example. 5 goals for Sunderland and I’d legit forgotten about him until I saw his name today. 🤷🏼‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/euXqZmE5e4
— Michael Graham (@Capt_Fishpaste) January 9, 2023

Are things as good as we want them to be? Not yet. Until Premier League status has been restored it won’t be. In many ways, though, many of the most meaningful ways, things are better.

Although we all loved the club back in those Premier League days, there were too many times when I did not like the players or the football they played. That connection eroded and, although Sam Allardyce and his really fun 2016 team of Jermain Defoe, Jan Kirchhoff, Younes Kaboul, Yann M’Villa etc briefly brought it back, it really just proved to be one glorious last act of defiance.

For the most part the Premier League years were like that. Months of misery punctuated by moments of magic. The great escapes, the cup final, the derby wins… Ji Dong-won against Manchester City.

It’s different now.

I’ve been trying to put my finger on exactly how it’s different and it’s tough to explain. Ultimately, though, I know Sunderland will be alright now.

Of course we lose games and play poorly. Managers can still walk out. Star players can even leave, although I hope he signs a new contract instead. But when that stuff happens, I don’t feel the panic of a man who has just taken a punch to the gut whilst stood perilously on the edge of a cliff and is desperately trying to regain my balance before falling backwards.

There is no panic, no worry, no sense of impending disaster. There is no sense of hopelessness, I suppose I am trying to say. Oh god… the hopelessness. I remember the hopelessness now.

When Alex Neil walked out earlier this season, briefing the press on his way out that he was leaving because he did not feel ‘backed’ by the club, it was a recipe for division. There were those who, quite reasonably, after the Madrox years were finding it tough to trust the ownership of the club, and an incredibly popular manager walking out seemingly because of them was far from ideal.

In previous times, a crisis against a backdrop of infighting between the fans would have followed. There is no question about that. It never happened though, and that was perhaps the very moment when the apparent change at Sunderland became palpable, became… I don’t know… more.

Alex Neil will never be forgotten for what he gave Sunderland at Wembley. He brought the club together as manager, and solidified that union in defiance at his desertion.

Alex Neil with Sunderland at Wembley — IMAGO

Tony Mowbray has, I think, taken that to an entirely new level, and almost without us even noticing. I am not too proud to admit that I didn’t particularly want him to arrive, but now it almost feels like he’s never not been here.

I can’t even say exactly what it is that he’s done. I just kind of like him being here.

He never seems rattled, he never complains, and he has clearly fully bought into the head coach role. Over the years, the director of football model has been treated with suspicion, and a lot of that has been fed by appointing managers. It felt like they fought against it, and that division within the club fostered division within the fanbase.

Mowbray is the first one who has fully bought into it. Ask him about transfers, and he says he has not discussed it, that it is not his remit. He doesn’t want any of it. All he wants is to develop the footballers he is given. A head coach’s passion with a manager’s mentality. It’s a lovely fit with the excellent work the recruitment team are doing.

In Mowbray, it feels like Sunderland have finally found a man for the long-term, a man who’s success will not be determined by the last result alone.

Of course, the longer Sunderland remain at Championship level, the more the expectations will rise, and the pressure on Mowbray will increase accordingly. There will be tests ahead for Mowbray, but the club now feels strong , and stable, enough to withstand them – and there is not a single fan who will take it for granted given how hard it has been earned.

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