Finally, Sunderland have a manager who the fans are really rallying behind, and they’re getting results in the Championship.
Ton Mowbray was a highly popular manager during his time at Sunderland. But many might argue that Regis Le Bris is by far the more popular, and so far he’s proving to be more successful too.
Although the Black Cats haven’t secured a spot in the Championship’s top six yet, they’re well on their way, and that’s despite a 2-1 defeat against Leeds United on Monday night.
Sunderland took the lead but once again, Le Bris is facing criticism from Sunderland fans for throwing away the lead in that game, adding to yet more dropped points in recent weeks for the Black Cats.
During Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ four year spell at the helm of Sunderland, there’s been five permanent managers. The manger in place at the time of Louis-Dreyfus’ arrival was Lee Johnson.
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Lee Johnson says Bolton Wanderers defeat sparked Sunderland exit
Johnson was in charge of Sunderland between December 2020 and January 2022. He oversaw 78 total games as manager and won 40 of them, eventually leaving with a win rate of 51.3% which is actually higher than Le Bris’ current record of 50%.
But after Sunderland were thumped 6-0 away at Bolton Wanderers at the start of 2022, Johnson was sacked with the Black Cats in 3rd place of the League One table at the time.
Speaking in a recent interview with Business of Sport, Johnson opened up on his exit from the Stadium of Light, saying: “It can turn very very quickly. Sunderland as an example, there was probably three or four factors that sort of led up to that at that point in time and it accumulated with a bit of a freak result and a freak loss to Bolton away, and it was a I suppose a bit of a crescendo.
“But you can always you can feel you can sense, you know there’s something going on in the background, or there’s a disagreement, or you you’re not quite as aligned, or the
communication stops, or you you hear a few things in football, and I felt I knew that one was coming Sunderland.
“It was probably coming a couple of months if you like before that, but we went on a
fantastic run and I think might have even been current reigning Manager of the Month when I got sacked from Sunderland. But such is life, you know, it does hurt.”
What Lee Johnson thinks of Sunderland this season
Speaking earlier in the campaign, Johnson gave his verdict on Sunderland this season, following what was a very strong start to life under Le Bris.
And Johnson hailed the club’s agility’ and ‘identity’ under the Frenchman, explaining: “They look like they’ve got agility. They look like they’ve got an identity and a playing style, which is good, and a lot of those lads have been together since the League One days as well.
“The thing you know about Sunderland, is when you get momentum, it is really, really powerful.”
After leaving Sunderland, Johnson went on to have spells with Hibernian and Fleetwood Town. He’s also had spells with Man City and FC Copenhagen working behind the scenes, as well as working as a scout in Nigeria.
Sunderland return to Championship action against Hull City on Saturday afternoon.