Regis Le Bris is the latest man trying to get Sunderland back to the promise land. And so far, he’s on track.
Although it’s still very early day for Regis Le Bris at Sunderland, it certainly seems like the owners have made a good appointment.
Under Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, managerial appointments often had a sense of the short-term about them, whereas Le Bris certainly seems like a longer-term appointment.
Le Bris has won his first four league games in charge, and despite Jack Clarke moving to Ipswich Town, Sunderland still look as dangerous, with Romaine Mundle stepping up to the plate in Clarke’s absence.
The international break is now upon us and it’s a good time for Le Bris to take stock of his first-team, and figure out how to keep Sunderland in this current vein of form for as long as possible.
He could become the first boss to achieve a promotion with the Black Cats since Alex Neil in 2022. And Le Bris has now earned comparisons to the Scot.
Phil Smith makes Regis Le Bris and Alex Neil comparison at Sunderland
Neil only oversaw 19 games as manager of Sunderland. But he won 11 of them (57.9%) and got Sunderland promoted from League One in 2022.
Neil fell out of favour with the club and left for Stoke City shortly after the start of the 2022/23 season.
But he had his qualities, and Neil was loosely linked with a return to Sunderland over the summer, which some fans weren’t totally against.
Speaking on the Wise Men Say podcast recently, journalist Phil Smith was discussing Le Bris, and he made an interesting comparison between him and Neil.
Smith said: “He is so detached from the noise, and the fuss, and I think that’s such a powerful quality to have.
“So single-minded, and you can’t really tell if they’ve won or lost.”
Smith added: “In that respect, he reminds me a little bit of Alex Neil, in a strange way.
“He doesn’t seem to be taking any notice of what’s being said… he has a really good temperament for the job.”
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We saw last season, a blueprint for how not to manage Sunderland, laid out by Michael Beale.
Beale was arguably too distracted by the noise. He quickly fell out with the Sunderland fans, and quickly lost his job.
Le Bris though clearly seems like a more level-headed boss. Like Smith says, he shows little emotion in his press conferences, in a good way, and that kind of mentality will spread into the playing squad.
Although there’s still a long way to go this season, Le Bris has quickly shown that he’s suited to English football, both in his playing style and his attitude, and Sunderland could yet go a very long way under his watch.