Sunderland are toiling in League One while Chris Wilder continues to impress in the Premier League with Sheffield United.
This weekend alone, ‘PochOut’ and ‘OleOut’ were trending on Twitter. But while it’s perhaps a little too soon for Tottenham and Manchester United fans to lose faith and write off the entire season just weeks after it begun, you could forgive Sunderland supporters for reaching the end of their tether.
After losing in the play-off final at Wembley just five months ago, Ross really needed a strong start to the season in order to silence the doubters and prove that he is the man who can drag the Black Cats back to the (relative) big time.
But a 2-0 defeat to Lincoln City on Saturday, a scoreline which actually flattered an insipid Sunderland side, was the last straw for many. ‘RossOut’ was dominating social media by 5pm on Saturday afternoon.
The Wearside faithful have long since grown tired of Ross’s pragmatic style and his inability to get the best out of a talented group of players and a run of one win in four League One games, which included a lucky draw against crisis-club Bolton Wanderers, means the sands of timing are quickly slipping away.
Wild thing
To think, before Ross arrived at the Stadium of Light in the summer of 2018, the Black Cats had identified a certain Chris Wilder as a possible replacement for Chris Coleman, according to TEAMtalk.
Wilder had led Sheffield United to the League One title just a year before, finishing a remarkable campaign with 100 points and 92 goals, so you could see why Sunderland would view the straight-talking Yorkshireman as something of a modest messiah.
But few expected, back in April 2018, that Wilder would be one of the Premier League’s most respected and innovative coaches 18 months on.
Wilder cemented himself as a bonafide Steel City hero when he guided his boyhood side back to the top flight after 12 years away in May and Sheffield United are more than holding their own in the Premier League these days with Wilder’s famous overlapping centre-backs leaving opposition managers bamboozled and pundits drooling.
Sunderland, meanwhile, are going nowhere fast and wondering how different things could have been.
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