“I’ve been hearing” – Pundit reacts to “unhealthy situation” at Sunderland AFC amid Bo Svensson talk

“I’ve been hearing” – Pundit reacts to “unhealthy situation” at Sunderland AFC amid Bo Svensson talk

Sunderland is still looking for a new coach, and former Mainz manager Bo Svensson is reportedly on the club’s shortlist.

According to journalist Alan Nixon, the Danish coach has surfaced as a surprising candidate for the Black Cats’ head coaching position.

The former Mainz manager spent nearly three years at the German club until leaving in November 2023.

Will Still, former manager of Stade Reims, and Paul Heckingbottom, former manager of Sheffield United, are also vying for the vacant role.

Rene Maric, Bayern Munich’s under-19s coach, is also rumoured to be a possibility,

but the club is determined to keep him, according to Tageszeitung.

With the summer transfer window rapidly approaching, the Black Cats must act quickly,

and football analyst Carlton Palmer is concerned about the club’s quest.

Carlton Palmer discusses Bo Svensson and Sunderland’s head coach hunt.

The former England international believes that the club’s approach to filling this gaping void,

as well as the limitations they are putting for contenders, will not be beneficial to them.

“Sunderland are still yet to appoint a manager, and the latest name to be linked to the job is Svensson,” stated Palmer.

“This would be a significant risk for them.

“What I can’t understand is why they haven’t scheduled an appointment yet.

I know they are particularly interested in the former Reims manager,

Still. They had previously spoken, but their conversation broke down.

He is currently unemployed, which I assumed would have accelerated his ability to find work.

But what I’ve heard from Sunderland is that with the way they want to run their ship, no manager worth their salt will do that.

“In Sunderland, it appears that you can only take one member of staff with you.

That would be a major issue for me because the rest of the personnel that were there before.

Those people are close to those up top, so they will be reporting back to the people up top.”

Nixon did note that the club is now willing to let the next head coach to bring their staff with them,

rather than working solely with the current group of coaches.

“It’s an unhealthy situation, and the way they want to work, primarily with young players,

getting them for low fees, developing them, and then charging high fees for them;

that’s a great model, but if you want to be successful as a football club, you have to balance that out with senior players.”

“It is possible that they would pick someone like Svensson, who needs to work and will go along with the scenario.

It would undoubtedly be a risk, but that is the type of manager they will have because any manager worth his salt,

such as Röhl, who would be expensive, would want to bring his backroom personnel and would refuse to work under such conditions.

“So it would only be someone who is very young or desperately seeking work.

It’s their right to operate their ship the way they choose, but there has to be a balance.

“At some point, your talented young players, who have seen what has happened,

will want to move on because they also want to be successful.”

Sunderland are gradually learning the errors of their ways.

The higher-ups at the Stadium of Light have been quite open and determined about how things will be done under the current system.

However, in recent weeks and months, they have began to come off their high horse and view things from a broader perspective.

Last season, their pursuit of solely young talent in the striker position generated serious recruitment complications,

resulting in the team not possessing a proper number nine.

Sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has stated that they plan to extend their hunt this summer.

A similar scenario happened during their coaching hunt.

Initially, they wanted the candidates to come in and collaborate with the already assembled backroom staff,

or just to bring one of their members of staff with them. Now they seem to be more open to letting head coaches bring their own people with them.

The recent dismal season must have prompted these shifts in attitudes.

They ended 16th in the league and never seemed like a sustained threat to crack the top six,

as they had the previous season, throughout the second half of the 2023/24 season.

Championship standings 2023/24
	Team	P	GD	Pts
9	Coventry City	46	11	64
10	Preston North End	46	-11	63
11	Bristol City	46	2	62
12	Cardiff City	46	-17	62
13	Millwall	46	-10	59
14	Swansea City	46	-6	57
15	Watford	46	0	56
16	Sunderland	46	-2	56

Better outcomes may follow now that they have loosened their stance slightly.

Alternatively, things will remain as they are, and they may reaffirm their original beliefs.

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