THERE are two ways of assessing Sunderland’s appointment of Regis Le Bris as their new head coach.
If you’re being kind to the hierarchy at the Stadium of Light, you could argue that by biding their time and undergoing the kind of thorough vetting process that was needed before they opted for Michael Beale, they’ve been able to recruit the kind of young, innovative head coach they’ve always wanted. And by waiting until the end of the season, they’ve got him at a price that wouldn’t have been an option back in February.
A less forgiving view, however, would claim that since Beale was sacked in the spring, Kyril-Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman have effectively written off half-a-season, severely damaged their relationship with Sunderland’s fans and still ended up with a boss that was relegated to the second tier of French football last season.
As ever, results will dictate which narrative gains most traction over the course of the next few months, but as Sunderland embark on yet another new era, two thoughts are apparent. First, the club has unquestionably taken a huge gamble at a point when the momentum of the early days under the current regime has completely stalled. Second, while the recruitment process had its flaws, now that some of the key facts are starting to emerge, perhaps it wasn’t the complete shambles it had looked for much of the last four months.
Let’s go back to February, when Beale was sacked. For better or worse – and, personally, I’d still argue it’s worse – the Sunderland hierarchy decided against making an immediate permanent appointment and instead embarked on a period of reflection on why the brief Beale era had gone so wrong. By the time they’d tweaked their recruitment criteria and come up with a five-man shortlist, things were unravelling dramatically under the interim stewardship of Mike Dodds. Still, though, Louis-Dreyfus and Speakman decided they would be better riding things out to the end of the season.
To a large extent, that decision was dictated by the fact that all five of their preferred options were in work. In the past, Sunderland’s owners had been criticised for pursuing out-of-work bosses regarded as the cheap option. This time, they felt the leading candidates were all employed. At least two are known to have been in jobs in France, with the Ligue 1 season not ending until late May. Another delay.
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In the initial stage of the process, all five candidates were regarded as being of a similar level, ticking certain boxes, requiring a trade-off when it came to others. Things changed in May, though, when Will Still left Reims. Suddenly, one of the five was available without the need for compensation. Given that all five were felt to be of a similar standard, Still shot to the top of Sunderland’s list.
The Black Cats thought they had the 31-year-old, and while Still’s camp have subsequently spoken of concerns over a lack of ambition and issues over the backroom set-up, there is a strong belief within the corridors of power at the Stadium of Light that Still would have been appointed as Sunderland boss weeks ago had Lens not put more money on the table.
Still opted for Ligue 1, and Sunderland’s five-man shortlist was down to four. Further talks took place, and while senior officials are known to have spoken to the likes of Liam Rosenior, who was not part of their original plans, sources insist that was only to keep their wider options open in case all of their original four candidates were unavailable.
After a series of discussions, Le Bris was identified as the preferred option, with the extremely strong indication that the 48-year-old Frenchman was 100 per cent committed to the role. Hence the now much-criticised statement from Louis-Dreyfus more than three weeks ago that an appointment was “imminent”.
It was, it’s just that Sunderland hadn’t factored in the delay in securing Le Bris’ work permit – which required an appeal to satisfy the Home Office – and the complexity of financial discussions with Lorient. Both issues took much longer than expected to resolve, but after yet another delay that understandably infuriated the Sunderland support, Le Bris’ appointment was finally confirmed on Saturday evening.
Why have Sunderland gone for someone who suffered relegation last season? Well, they argue Le Bris’ wider catalogue of work is much more relevant than the results from a single campaign. They like his track record of youth development, both at Lorient and with Stade Rennais. They point to his achievements two years ago, when he guided a Lorient side expected to be relegation candidates to a tenth-place finish in Ligue 1. They point to his coaching and playing style, which attracted an offer from Nice, and argue that last season’s relegation is due, in large part, to the sale of the players that Le Bris had developed in the previous season. Moritz Jenz went to Wolfsburg, Enzo Le Fee joined Rennes and Ibrahima Kone headed to Almeria. None were adequately replaced.
All of that might be true, but there is still no doubting that the decision to install Le Bris at the Stadium of Light is a risk. For all that his grasp of English is very good, his experience of working in England is non-existent. He doesn’t know the Championship, and while he will obviously have done extensive homework on the Sunderland squad, he will be learning on the job as he negotiates pre-season.
Just as pertinently, he is also starting from a position of weakness in the eyes of the fans. That is not his fault, and while confirmation of his appointment was hardly received rapturously over the weekend, he will not encounter the same sort of immediate hostility that was directed at Beale when he was installed to succeed Tony Mowbray.
Nevertheless, Le Bris will still find himself paying a heavy price for the failings of those above him in the last few months. Sunderland’s fanbase is understandably sceptical of anything that is done by the current regime at the moment, and so there will be intense scrutiny of everything Le Bris does or does not do in the early weeks of his tenure.
Who will he be allowed to bring in with him? Will he have any say over incomings and outgoings? Just because Louis-Dreyfus and Speakman think he will be an ideal fit for their ‘Sunderland project’, will that really be the case? Or like Beale, will he fail to live up to his billing?
The stakes will be high from the outset because that is where the Sunderland hierarchy have set the bar. When Mowbray was dismissed, it was because Speakman insisted the Black Cats were “obsessed with progression”. When Beale was sacked a few months later, it was because of a “desire to improve” and achieve “the highest league position possible”.
In the past, both Speakman and Louis-Dreyfus have insisted that promotion has to be the ambition. It was still on the cards when Mowbray was sacked, but subsequent events scuppered that. It was still a possibility, albeit a much less likely one, when Beale was dismissed and Dodds promoted. That hardly went well.
Having caused so much damage with their last two managerial decisions, Sunderland’s leaders will be desperately hoping it is a case of third time lucky this time around.
Their fate is in Le Bris’ hands. The new boss deserves a clean slate and an opportunity to build his own Sunderland side, playing in the manner he sees fit. Despite the scepticism that still abounds, he will be afforded that opportunity by a fanbase that remains as passionately pro-Sunderland as ever.
Will he succeed? Time will tell. But if nothing else, at least there is now certainty where there had previously been confusion. An utterly awful period is finally over. Let the latest fresh start begin.
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