After relegation under the ‘leadership’ of David Moyes, the former Manchester United manager slunk away without a care in the world and able to leave the aftermath of his pathetic spell in charge for others to sort out.
Of course, given that Ellis Short had pretty much given up the ghost too, the quest to appoint a new manager for a club that had the for sale sign firmly displayed was perhaps more challenging than it otherwise would have been.
A month or so and counting in managerial limbo had meant the club was unable – unwilling – to start preparing the team for the new season, and Robbie Stockdale, who’d been part of the set up for a while, had been told he’d be taking training when pre-season commenced a week later.
Sunderland were very publicly up for sale, and a German consortium had been rumoured to be keen on taking over the club. As a consequence, former USA manager and German international striker Jurgen Klinsmann had been strongly linked, but had stated he wasn’t planning on taking residence in the Sunderland manager’s office any time soon.
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The summer had been dominated so far by Martin Bain’s quest to lock in Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes. The Scot had been the ex-Rangers’ exec’s number one choice to replace Moyes, but the uncertainty over the club’s future meant the former West Brom player was understandably reluctant to swap Pittodrie for the Stadium of Light.
McInnes said:
> _I thought long and hard about it. There’s been other opportunities in my time here when I’ve been asked if there was any interest and I’ve quickly moved away from it._
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> _Sunderland was a club I was keen to speak to and once permission was granted it was something I wanted to follow up, just to make a more balanced call on it._
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> _I think naturally there’s a lot to be enticed by the opportunity, so many positives with it, it’s a fantastic club, but having taken everything into consideration and taking my time with the whole process, I decided to stay._
>
> _I’ve always said it would be a huge wrench to leave here, I love my job here. I’ve had a lot of good times so I thought long and hard and the decision was to stay at the club. I’m delighted we’re moving on and I can put that to bed._
The problems in appointing a new manager had forced Short and Bain to put a deadline on any sale. An agreement in principle had been reached on the cost of sale, but with no deal in the offing the duo had acknowledged the uncertainty was making a strong appointment to get us back up a virtual impossibility. A deadline of the end of June for a takeover to be in place had been set, and if it wasn’t met Short and Bain would take on the task of securing promotion themselves.
And, after being turned down by McInnes, the club was rumoured to be looking at Preston manager Simon Grayson, who had earned a reputation as a strong Championship leader.
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While the club said publicly they were trying to bring players in, moving on high-earners was proving to be a challenge, and preventing deals from happening.
Fabio Borini was close to moving to Lazio, initially on loan at a cost of £880,000 with a view to a permanent arrangement that would cost a further £5m.
However, his wage demands of around £35,000 a week were proving a problem, which had also prevented Celtic from striking a deal.
But, even with the delays and ill preparation, there wouldn’t be any long-term repercussions, surely??!