Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
We already had our first managerial casualty of the close season last week before this campaign had ended what with Walter Mazzarri being shown the exit door by Watford and now we have our second as David Moyes has announced his resignation from Sunderland.
Yesterday Sunderland traveled to the new Premier League champions Chelsea and although they tried to ruin the party early on when Javier Manquillo opened the scoring they then awoke the beast which is Antonio Conte’s side who then ran out 5-1 winners at Stamford Bridge.
It was a miserable end to a forgettable season for the Black Cats, they finished bottom of the table and a massive 16 points from safety. This is a squad that has been devoid of any real quality bar Jordan Pickford and Jermain Defoe at either end of the pitch.
But apart from those two small beacons of hope it has been a squad that has struggled from the outset and some of that has to be attributed to Moyes’ comments at the start of the season when he all but said himself that this was a squad lacking the necessary requirements to beat the drop.
When that is the message you are giving out at the start of the campaign then you are all but doomed, it is no wonder that Sunderland turned in so many poor performances when Moyes is acting like the grim reaper and writing off the clubs chances of survival before a ball has even been kicked in anger.
This is a club that has failed to spend when required this season and the reason for that is that quite simply they do not have the money, if they do not have the money for the top flight then you do have to wonder where they are going to find the cash for players in a bid to get out of the EFL Championship at the first time of asking.
Add to the fact that both Pickford and Defoe are more than likely to leave this Summer and you get the feeling that no money and no stars means Moyes simply does not fancy getting his hands dirty when having to mix it in the cut throat league which is the Championship.
Does this mean Moyes is now a busted flush? Since Everton, he has now had three forgettable managerial spells. The fall guy at Manchester United, a forgettable stint in La Liga with Real Sociedad and now this season of misery at the Stadium Of Light.
Will that third strike mean he will never work in the top flight again and if so what a fall from grace that has been for someone who was heralded so highly by Sir Alex Ferguson, not forgetting that it was Ferguson who hand picked Moyes as his successor after his Old Trafford departure in 2013.
Where Moyes goes next will depend on whether a Premier League chairman is brave enough to take on who is now becoming a harbinger of doom. If Moyes does turn up at your club next season then you have every reason to be very concerned.
Sunderland fans will be concerned as who exactly will be the right man to get Sunderland back up at the first time of asking, then again their initial feeling will probably be delight after the football that has been served up on Wearside over the past 9 months.
As a club they have gone through far too many managers over the past few years and this cycle of diminishing returns is finally catching up with them, once again they will have to name a new manager in the close season and if they get this one wrong then they may well be a second tier team for a few years to come. It’s now make or break for the Black Cats but how many times have we heard that before?
