Sunderland appear to have struck gold with Regis Le Bris with fans no doubt already dreaming of a return to the Premier League.
Saturday’s defeat at Plymouth Argyle brought an end to Sunderland’s winning start to the Championship season.
Wayne Rooney saw his side produce a rousing second-half display, beating Sunderland 3-2 after falling a goal behind.
Regis Le Bris will be gutted with Saturday’s late defeat but Sunderland must respond against Middlesbrough next weekend.
This has been a superb start to the season and Sunderland can’t afford to just let that fade away after Saturday’s defeat.
The Championship is a long slog but Sunderland still sit second in the table and have shown real quality with a young and developing side.
Simon Grayson on Sunderland move
Promotion is still the dream for Sunderland fans after more than seven years out of the top flight.
Maybe Le Bris will be the man to take Sunderland back to the top flight down the line; he’s made a great start anyway.
Many of his predecessors would have loved to start this well, including Michael Beale last season.
Go back to 2017 though and Sunderland turned to Simon Grayson after relegation from the Premier League.
Grayson had done great work at Preston North End but his move to the Stadium of Light turned into a nightmare.
Grayson won just three of his 18 games in charge of Sunderland and lasted just over four months in the job.
The 54-year-old has recently been managing in India with Bengaluru and has now spoken about his time at Sunderland.
Speaking to World Football Index, Grayson noted that he just felt the Sunderland job was too good to pass up.
Grayson wanted to manage in the Premier League and believed that he could take Sunderland back up at the first time of asking.
Grayson quickly realised that Sunderland just didn’t have funds to mount a promotion push and no fans need reminding of how the season ended.
“Sunderland was a team that had just been relegated from the Premier League, a huge football club, which is why I thought it was too good an opportunity to pass up,” said Grayson,
“My ambition was to manage in the Premier League, and I thought I could achieve that by taking Sunderland potentially straight back up or at least giving it a good shot. Previously, I’d turned down two opportunities to be a manager in the Premier League when I was at Leeds because I thought I could achieve that with Leeds.
“I thought Sunderland was going to be another opportunity, but it wasn’t until I got in there that I understood the full extent of what was happening. The club had sold £50 million worth of players and then brought in 12 players for £1 million players, which shows you where the club was. There was a lot of unrest among the players, and it was a really difficult environment. These things happen.
Grayson has no Sunderland regrets
Grayson added that he is always asked about whether he regrets leaving a safe job at PNE given that he only lasted a few months on Wearside.
The former Leeds United boss claims that he still has no regrets over his decision to leave PNE for Sunderland, but wishes he had the entire North End squad at Sunderland because of their ‘better attitude’.
“The one thing people always ask me is whether I regret leaving Preston. I don’t have any regrets. I always think you can only regret things you don’t do. The last thing I wanted was for someone else to get Sunderland promoted and think, ‘That could have been me.’ So I don’t regret going.
“The only thing I wish I could have done was take the whole group of players from Preston with me and swap them for the ones at Sunderland because they had a lot more about them — a better attitude and a greater willingness to work and learn — whereas, at Sunderland, I don’t think they did,” he added.
Grayson clearly feels that he walked into a tough situation at Sunderland and previously suggested that his struggles weren’t completely his fault.
A number of managers have found similar situations over the years.
Chris Coleman, Phil Parkinson and Lee Johnson spring to mind before the ill-fated Beale stint last season.
Le Bris now appears to have Sunderland on the right track once again with fans hoping to have finally found a long-term manager.