Following Tony Mowbray’s departure from Sunderland, a great deal of conjecture—along with some not-so-subtle agenda-pushing stoked with relish by the local media—arose over the alleged breakdown in trust and/or communication between the head coach and his superiors.
It was similar to the ambiguity that ultimately led to Alex Neil’s departure for Stoke City in 2022, the promotion-winning head coach quitting under the pretext of ‘not being backed in the transfer market,’ in certain respects.
In any case, the Sunderland hierarchy—which I detest the term “model” and have done for some time because it’s becoming too cliche for my taste—won’t alter for as long as the current hierarchy is in place, regardless of what irate supporters on BBC phone-ins or local journalists who appeared to see Mowbray as their friend might think.
A “sporting director”-centered organization may seem strange and unsettling to us, especially in light of the disastrous Roberto De Fanti experiment, but among the larger football community, it is a standard practice that is no longer seen as all that novel.
These roles are held by Txiki Begiristain at Manchester City, Dan Ashworth just moved from Brighton to Newcastle, and even in the Championship, Jason Wilcox, a former Blackburn winger, is now director of football at Southampton, where he is in charge of the team’s future.
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