TalkSPORT pundit Simon Jordan has discussed Sunderland fans’ expectations following the club’s sacking of Michael Beale.
It’s not even been two years since Sunderland earned promotion from League One.
But already the club is pushing to get back to the Premier League, earning an unexpected play-off finish last season and pushing for another this time round.
Though it looks like a top six finish is steadily creeping out of the realms of possibility for the Black Cats, who sit 10th in the table but now seven points outside the top six.
It comes after the club sacked Beale on Monday, with Mike Dodds taking temporary charge until the summer.
Simon Jordan unimpressed by Sunderland supporters
Speaking on talkSPORT, Jordan has agreed that Beale perhaps wasn’t the best fit for Sunderland.
But he’s also questioned Sunderland fans for their apparent ‘delusion’ having spent so long in League One, now to be expecting the club to be pushing for promotion to the Premier League.
Jordan said:
“Look, I am of the same mindset about Mick Beale. Clearly, he can operate at a certain level and clearly, he can coach because he wouldn’t have been in the positions that he has. I don’t know what he said at the interview stage.”
“The fact of the matter is that if he had won seven of his 12 games then we possibly wouldn’t be having this discussion and that was then compounded by the fact, for whatever reason, that Sunderland fans who are entitled having watched their team in League One for the last few years have obviously got delusions of grandeur about where they think they should be.”
Delusion or just reality
After promotion from League One, the vast majority of Sunderland fans were expecting a mid-table finish at the best.
But the club arguably over-achieved by finishing in the top six, then after spending their share of money last summer (and last month as well), and managing to keep hold of players like Jack Clarke, Dan Neil and Dan Ballard, there was a certain degree of expectation on the club to achieve another top six finish this season.
And Sunderland were toying with 6th place up until Mowbray’s exit, with Beale’s tenure all but condemning the club to another season in the second tier.
So for Jordan to suggest Sunderland fans have an air of delusion is harsh; the fans’ expectation is aligned with the club’s own expectation and ambition, and those expectations are founded in a very strong playing squad and some very strong performances in the Championship this season.
The Sunderland project has moved at a fast pace over the past two-and-a-half years and although it looks to have a hit a slight bump in the road, it remains a project on course to sustain.
Dodds’ Sunderland return to action vs Swansea City this weekend.