I think this is just hilarious. I didn't think I'd see him in charge anywhere in the premiership again. He was the last English manager to win the league, when he did it with Super Leeds in 92. I wonder how shocked all the Sunderland supporters are. I know i was.
Judging by their "rivals" message board, they are in a state of shock. They seem to be generally divided between those who will use the next home game for a demonstration against their chairman and those who will be boycotting the game altogether. The game is a six-pointer as well - West Ham at home.
LOL and they complained about the style of football under Peter Reid! This is too funny! Still it makes it easier for the other teams fighting for relegation; sunderland's place is guaranteed now
Oh my sides, my sides are splitting. What are Sunderland thinking. Why hire a guy who hasn't done anything in club football in over 5 years. He's an honest bloke but he just isn't cut out for the premiership in this day and age. The game has changed so much since his Leeds team won the title. To be fair, I don't know much about this Cotterill chap and maybe he's something special that will be groomed into the position once Sunderland are slighty more stable. On face value though, I'd be very disillusioned right now if the Black Cats were my team.
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,1563,809054,00.html Here's the Guardian's take. Glad I didn't bet my house on McCarthy.
There's two good points to this... the one I mentioned up above and the other... Wilko is no longer able to ************ up the England youth players I hope someone worthwhile becomes FA technical director.
Lol, you're right about the kids. But what does a technical director really do? I can't see the sageful Sven saying "Howard, play Becks down the middle or wide right?"
Another Old skool dinosaur gets a job with a premiership team. Funny how these kind of managers still get jobs. dave Bassett got jobs at Notts forest and Leicester and ruined both teams. Graham taylor got the villa job and is well on the way to taking them down the toilet.. Now wilko gets the sunderland job...
He was, astonishingly, the one responsible for orgonising the training at the FA youth Academies. He's also the one who devised the FA coaching badge. It sums it up really...
Given that when he was at Leeds he sold Cantona to Man Utd, how long until Kevin Philips joins Newcastle?
Let's face it. English managers are a poor choice in today's market. Lack of grit, determination and tactical nous. Fatal decision Sunderland. Looks like Wilkinson is the best of a bad lot. If they don't do down this season, it'll only stave off the inevitable next year. Is he the only one who was willing to take the job that was acceptable to the Sunderland board? I'd even rate O'Leary, McCarthy or Gregory above him and that's not saying much. Bye bye, black cats. Unless some other teams can match their lack of ambition.
IN reality, this is a joke. As was mentioned on the Newcastle board.... I think both points are accurate.... ...Way to go Blunderland.
Agreed. Out with the dinosaurs! The continent is the place to look for decent managers. Bring in more Dutch, Italians, and French.
Bollox. What we need to be doing is finding the next generation of younger managers that can make it at the top level.
As a Yank who follows the Premiership and especially Premiership teams with Yanks on them, I'm interested in knowning who this guy is. I've never heard of him but can tell from the posts in this thread that he's not exactly the second coming. Anyone care to enlighten me?
I don't know if this is another thread or not but I've seen more than one poster complain about the lack of quailty English managers. What up with that, yo? Why can y'all play but not Coach? There's got to be someone there...
Any word on if they offered it to O'Leary first? I could picture him turning it down, but I can't imagine they wouldn't make him an offer.
I've heard that he was never considered for the job. The Sunderland board were not impressed with the way he conducted things at Elland Road (The Bowyer/Woodgate trial, his book)
O' Leary was thinking two moves ahead. The fact is that Sunderland wanted Mick McCarthy. It didn't work out, but O'Leary had his eyes firmly on the Irish job that would have become vacant if it had. As to the quality of English managers, we have a lot of promising young managers, but there is a gap between them and old-stagers like Venables and Robson. There are no "prime of their career" managers with English passports at the moment.