A Friday in late August 2022 and there’s an empty chair in Sunderland’s cavernous press room.
Manager Alex Neil is supposed to taking his pre-match press conference but he wants to talk to Stoke City. The press call is delayed and then canned as the situation becomes clearer. Fans fear their bright start to the season could curdle into another Championship relegation fight.
“There was a lot of noise but we were calm. Very calm,” one Sunderland insider told i at the time.
Sunderland used to be a club of extremes and there were plenty of people ready to declare a crisis on Wearside when Neil, fresh from leading the Black Cats up through the League One play-offs, quit for the Potteries.
But not internally, where the club’s data-driven approach meant they had already plotted their next move.
The track record of Tony Mowbray for developing players, working with younger stars and succeeding in the Championship meant he was already on their radar and what has proved to be an inspired appointment moved quickly.
The Black Cats are playing fantastic, attacking football and burst into the play-off picture in the final minutes of a memorable season, winning handsomely at Preston while Milwall suffered their own meltdown.
They take on Luton in the Championship’s first play off semi-final on Saturday with momentum on their side. A sold-out Stadium of Light cherishes a young side that are spearheaded by Amad Diallo, the £25million Manchester United loanee they would dearly love to bring back to Sunderland for a second season.
But he is just one success story of a promotion push that has taken even those inside the club by surprise. Pre-season the target was Championship consolidation and a mid-table finish.
Now the Premier League is a very real goal and with it the opportunity to turbocharge one of football’s most interesting projects. “It’s never too soon to get to the Premier League,” Mowbray said. “It has the riches to build your club faster.”
The underrated head coach deserves the plaudits but insiders also speak with awe of the job done by head of player recruitment Stuart Harvey, who was appointed in April 2021.
Alongside sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, he has overseen a recruitment drive with an impressive hit rate. Their net outlay is less than £10m but through scouring the French market and picking up the best under-utilised Premier League prospects they have built a team with special chemistry.
Their secret? Utilise data, the intuition of a talented bands of scouts and – most importantly – take risks others wouldn’t.
Sunderland were not the only club aware of the talents of Jack Clarke (signed from Tottenham), January signing Pierre Ekwah (bought from West Ham) and defenders Aji Alese and Dennis Cirkin (signed from the Hammers and Spurs respectively). But they were the only club of their size and stature prepared to take a risk on them.
“There is an awful lot of talent stockpiled in Premier League squads kicking their heels. Sunderland have hit the sweet spot of being a big club that will give opportunities to them and that’s getting noticed,” one source who works in recruitment tells i.
“Other clubs say they want young players but buying a Premier League player with lots of talent but who hasn’t played first team football to go into a team chasing promotion from the Championship is really unusual.
“They deserve a lot of credit.”
Others are taking notice. i understands Clarke is a target for Brentford but Sunderland have also started to talking to potential summer arrivals too. Birmingham midfielder Jobe Bellingham, brother of Jude and rated highly, is a realistic target. They are now an attractive sell to players.
As i revealed last season, they set themselves the goal of being innovators. A partnership with north-east sport tech firm Okkulo sees players train in a special low-light environment to improve their intuitive touch. It seems to be working.
They also use data to benchmark their performance through the season, ensuring there is not too much focus on the highs and lows that came after results.
Such is the pressure of the Premier League Mowbray jokes that he might be out of a job within 10 weeks if Sunderland do go up. It is a chance he is prepared to take. “There’s a feel-good factor at the club at the moment,” he says.
“But we haven’t achieved anything yet.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/ihn0Xxo
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