Short-termism catches up with Sunderland

Should the Black Cats stick with Moyes? – skysports.com

Sunderland have long been the Premier League’s masters of escapology, but this time, survival looks beyond even them. They will go down, probably as the division’s table-proppers, unless they can almost double their current points tally in the remaining 11 games. Such a return looks beyond even them and so the eye cannot help but drift to the longer-term picture.

Those words may seem alien to a club that, for the last half a decade, has focused firmly on survival. Six different bosses, seven if you count club legend Kevin Ball’s second stint in interim charge, have taken to the home dugout March 2013.

Their swift changing of manager is matched by the knee-jerk nature of their transfer business. In 13/14 and 15/16, they made five signings in an inflated January market and while they only made one deal in the winter of 14/15, that was an expensive one for veteran Jermain Defoe. It would be wrong to criticize the signing of Defoe, who has been their main goal threat over the last 18 months. What should be criticized is their tendency to favour older players, with just 11 under 25s joining on permanent deals since June 2013:

Duncan Watmore – an energetic wide man who signed from Altrincham. Has shown likeable enthusiasm without progressing too much on the technical side of his game.
David Moberg Karlsson – a Swedish winger who played just one cup game.
El-Hadji Ba – a central midfielder who also played one cup game.
Charis Mavrias – a Greek winger who played only four games, despite reportedly impressing in training and in the reserves.
Liam Bridcutt – a combative midfielder and favourite of Gus Poyet, whose exit saw him subsequently play just three games before leaving.
Patrick Van Aanholt – a full-back that tends to excel when given licence to push forward. Played 95 games before leaving for Palace this year.
Jack Rodwell – injuries and questionable displays since his move in 2014 suggest Sunderland won’t get much of a return on their expensive outlay.
Adam Matthews – only played one game, due partly to injuries, partly a loan move to Bristol City last season.
Paddy McNair – a ball-playing defender who has not had the chance to do much ball-playing – seven league games.
Donald Love – has only played one more league game than McNair, with whom he joined from United.
Didier N’Dong – not the best technically, but one of the few who shows some fight. Suffers from slow midfielders around him.

Six of those players – more than half – have not got into double figures for Sunderland appearances. Not only does the club rarely sign young players, the few they do sign are not given opportunities. The theory is that experienced heads are more useful in relegation battles and to an extent, their late runs to survival back this up.

However, the club is now facing the longer-term consequences of their short-term actions. They are stuck with an aging squad of players who have no sell-on fee, most committed to expensive, lengthy contracts. With footballers fitter than ever, pace has become an increasingly important part of the game and so consistently signing old players inevitably has repercussions.

Supporter Michael Graham made a case for sticking with manager David Moyes, with the club in need of stability. There is merit in his argument – and the fact the board have stuck with him to this point suggests he will be the man to lead them next season, come what may.

Whoever the manager, re-structuring a whole club is not something that can be done overnight. Relegation looms and things may get worse before they get better.