Sunderland find themselves in the Championship relegation zone, but could manager Simon Grayson be the man to turn things around for the Black Cats?
When HITC Sport visited the Stadium of Light ahead of Sunderland’s clash against Cardiff, there was little optimism or positivity coming through from the long-suffering Black Cats supporters.
After suffering the Premier League relegation last season that had seemed inevitable for several years, the Sunderland team under Grayson already appear to be in a desperate situation in the Championship, with Tuesday’s emphatic 5-2 defeat to Ipswich Town leaving them third-bottom in the table.
Simon Grayson
Sunderland have not won in the second tier since the second weekend of the season, and have still not secured three points in front of their own fans since beating Watford in December 2016.
As HITC Sport found out last week, there is some sympathy for Grayson, but there was also plenty of criticism coming his way.
But if Sunderland are to turn things around, the fans turning their back on Grayson is surely not the answer.
Grayson took over a team that was one of the worst in Premier League history and then lost their two shining lights in Jordan Pickford and Jermain Defoe.
It was always going to be tough for Grayson. He was seemingly not first choice for the role (staying at Aberdeen was apparently a more attractive option for Derek McInnes), and, as Transfermarket points out Grayson has spent just £1.4 million on transfer despite bringing in 10 players either permanently or on loan.
And when you consider that four of the six sides who have beaten Sunderland this season are currently situated in the top six in the Championship table, Grayson’s underwhelming start perhaps needs to be seen in a slightly different perspective.
Grayson is an experienced campaigner in the Championship and did well in his jobs at Leeds and Preston previously, so if anyone is going to get the best out of a squad made up of players with little confidence or signed for next to no money, it is surely the 47-year-old. And, perhaps more to the point, who else would take the job at the moment ?
Suggesting that Grayson is going to turn the Black Cats’ fortunes around entirely would clearly be foolish, but he arguably stands as good a chance as any manager of keeping Sunderland in the second tier during this transitional period. Fans are understandably frustrated at what’s going on at Sunderland, but they have to get behind the team and the manager if the club is going to stand any chance of salvaging their season.
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