Cast your mind back to March 2013 and Martin O’Neill had just been relieved of his services at Sunderland with Paolo Di Canio put in charge.
Di Canio’s second game was against fierce rivals Newcastle United, a game Sunderland won 3-0 to give the manager his first win.
Fast forward six months and Di Canio was sacked by the club following reported unrest in the changing rooms and Uruguayan Gus Poyet was brought in. Poyet, like Di Canio, lost his first game and won his second, again, against Newcastle United, much to the delight of the supporters.
Poyet managed a little longer than his predecessor at the club, but his time came to an end in March 2015 after poor results. Veteran manager Dick Advocaat was placed in temporary charge until the end of the season. Advocaat’s first game ended in defeat, but he unbelievably managed to win against Newcastle in his second in charge.
Advocaat managed to keep the club in the league last season but unfortunately couldn’t turn around the club’s fortunes and left the club just last week.
Ex-Sunderland player and Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce has taken the reigns at the club and will take charge of his first game against West Brom midweek. Allardyce’s second game in charge? Yes, you guessed it, Newcastle United.
There are no guarantees history will repeat itself for the fourth successful time, but it is all a bit of a coincidence. Even if Sunderland are to win, ‘Big Sam’ will know he has probably his biggest challenge on his hands in keeping Sunderland in the league.
One thing is certain, the next few weeks are going to be extremely interesting, especially for Sunderland fans.
jbinnie
Guest
Sunderland problems can be summed up in a couple of words, a second to none almost endless number of managers being employed and sacked in short order,.In 58 years since the end of WW11 they have employed 35 managers and you don't have to Einstein to work out that it is not really what one would term a long term "position". How any board can expect a manager to improve a team in less that 2 years is almost beyond comprehension but that appears to be the status quo at Sunderland. And we think things have been bad at Roar!!!!!!!. jb
HardcorePrawn
Roar Guru
The problems at Sunderland have been there for some time, and appear to be caused by a toxic culture amongst the players, together with interference from the owner and the board. For Allardyce to succeed at Sunderland he needs to do something drastic with the squad: offloading the underperformers, changing the training regime, and ensure that he has the support of the board should the players complain. I really think that, had Di Canio's appointment not been so contentious (Sunderland fans were never likely to warm to an avowed supporter of Mussolini), he might have had more time to enforce his will upon the squad. He saw an appalling lack of fitness, really bad dietary habits and a drinking culture that's alleged to be the worst in English football, and tried to do something about it. The players complained, the board saw a way to rid themselves of a controversial manager, and ever since the squad have behaved like spoilt brats.
Bradley Jurd
Roar Rookie
Big Sam could get the job done at Sunderland. But who knows? He could win the derby against Newcastle, then could get sacked in 6 months. Allardyce's tactics are not beautiful, but we saw at West Ham he improved their fortunes. Sunderland are a basket case at the moment and maybe relegation could do them good and start afresh for the 2016-17 season.