Yeti01

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Saving Sunderland


Stepping out of the car at the Academy of Light had felt like a stepping through the front door of your home. It had been so long since I had been back after being banned from the club by then chairman Ellis Short after I had some things to say about him – but all it took were a few minutes and the warmth returned. The head of the new consortium of owners, Stewart Donald, had invited me to come visit - ostensibly, I thought, to simply hold out the olive branch given my involvement with TalkSport.

Only it had been much, much more.

I don’t have an agent anymore, maybe that will come back to bite me, but I think that Donald knew if he got me up here, got me talking about the plight of the place, there was no way I was going to say no…

And he was right. And now here I sit, the new manager of Sunderland Association Football Club. We ended up talking for hours, about the new signings they had lined up and how I wanted to run things mainly. Turns out they wanted what I wanted, to play attacking footy with an emphasis on holding the ball. As a former Sunderland Academy graduate myself I demanded that I also be judging on bringing through players from the Academy of Light, Donald just smiled as he agreed so I think that was always part of his plan anyways…


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They also told me I would be working with a Director of Football. No issues there for me, I don’t want to deal with that stuff. Karagounis was a gun player in his day, so if he can get started on finding me quality youth prospects then we will all be happy.


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Over on the transfer side of things, to their credit, the new owners haven’t been nearly as tight as Short was, even with the 2 successive relegations no doubt putting a huge dent in the club’s coffers. We now have a squad that is, in my eyes, completely capable of pushing for promotion this season.


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When we started talking about the current squad, it became quickly clear that the most pressing issue I will have to deal with is the spate of injuries! 7 first teamers are in various stages of rehabilitation – I guess that’s why we could afford some of them perhaps…


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Irrespective, Donald was clear with me on what he felt were acceptable KPI’s for this season. I must admit I think they are being a bit adventurous with their plans for the cups, but I know the main focus is on the league and driving this club back up to where it should be.


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And who am I you ask? Well I am Sunderland old boy Micky Gray.


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Season 1 - June/July



Man, I never liked pre-season. All training seemed to be was fitness, fitness and more fitness. So naturally, as a new coach I made the boys do fitness, fitness and more fitness… No slackers allowed. I began building a decent personal rapport with the incumbent assistant manager James Fowler. A Scotsman, he seemed a nice enough chap, who had come down to be part of the team with Jack Ross from St Mirren. So after Ross quit, abruptly turning down the role at the last minute citing a difference in vision with Donald, poor Jimmy was left in the lurch and I decided to keep him on. I note that I am only building a personal rapport with him because, frankly, I think I need someone more skilled than him as my right hand man, and I have a few names in mind….

But back to the footy. Fowler had approached with a suggestion to play the U23’s and the first team in a behind closed doors friendly. Made sense to me so the plan was put into action. To be honest the application I saw from the first teamers was pretty terrible. The kids literally rang rings around them. Not sure if all the extra running I have been asking of them had something to do with it but a few of the kids earned themselves call ups to train with the men as a result of their efforts.

I think the team got the message after that, because from then on we were much better. First, we managed a draw with Danish Superliga side OB, a short tour followed and a good game against Darlington was followed up by a not-so-great result against Carlisle. We had rung up the changes for that game though and really dominated proceedings, so I wasn’t too worried. Then we served up a great performances against Anderlecht before getting a victory over Nurnburg – a Bundesliga side!

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Those last two results proved to me that we have some talent at the club who I don’t want to even sniff the open market. To that end, arranged for new contracts to be given to Academy graduates Denver Hume, Elliot Embelton and George Honeyman. While new boy Reece James’ willingness to be very reasonable with his wage demands saw him get an extension as well. All my other off contract players are going to be further evaluated throughout the season as we work out who is worth spending the cash on.

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Following the end of the preseason I felt like we were moving along quite nicely. That is, except for the injury list… It didn’t seem to have shrunk much at all and some had even joined it! I am worried I will be managing fatigue all season but at least the squad has some decent depth for this level.

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Season 1 - August





And here it was, my first game in professional management. The club decided to make a big day of it too, calling their annual fan’s day to celebrate the occasion. I was desperate then to get the result in front of a nearly packed house.

And win we did. Despite most of the match statistics being reasonably even we were far more clinical in front of goal. Chris Maguire goals bookended a collector’s item from Lee Cattermole to give us the 3-nil victory over Charlton. Best of all though was the crowd. You will often hear a club say they have the best supporters in the land but I daresay there would not be many at all who, coming off back to back relegations, would get over 40,000 to their first match in the third tier. Amazing!

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Full of confidence, we then travelled to Luton and dominated them. This is the kind of football I envisaged when I agreed to take over. We had all the ball, created over double their chances and smashed them in their own stadium. It was an assertion of will that they had no answer for. Great game.

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Drawing Derby first up in the Carabao cup was dreadful luck so, when the game was scheduled midweek between two league fixtures, I took the opportunity to ring up the changes. The boys were never really on the same page and it showed but, to my guys credit, some resolute defending meant Derby had to sweat until the last 10 mins to get a breakthrough.

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Scunthorpe was our next visitor and for large parts of this game I was not happy. Yeah sure we created a few more chances but there wasn’t any real quality of note from us. We had the ball but weren’t damaging with it and when Scunthorpe took the lead midway through the second half it seemed as though we were heading towards our first defeat. Tottenham loanee Kazaiah Sterling refused to lose though, popping up at the death to rescue a point.

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I let the team know I wasn’t impressed after the Scunthorpe game so when we travelled to Gillingham for our 4th league fixture of the month I was expecting a response. And they delivered. Total domination in this one as we ran out 3 nil victors.

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We returned to our Jekyll and Hyde ways in the next fixture, starting poorly and going behind quite early away at Wimbledon. The courage and togetherness the boys showed was awesome after the break however and Sterling’s last-minute winner was no less than we deserved.

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In other developments, I asked the club if they would consider helping me upskill by funding a course. They agreed, and I will now be working towards obtaining my Continental Pro Licence over the next year or so. Deadset, I became a footballer because I couldn't stand the books and now look at me....

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TABLE

An extremely solid month sees us finish up at the top of the table, trailing only the undefeated Peterborough. Our goal difference was helped by some strong away wins and we have established a nice early platform to build from. Keen.

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PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

The player I have chosen to spotlight this month is George Honeyman. The current club captain joined Sunderland aged 10. Having really only broken into the 1st​ team last season playing 42 times in the Championship, Honeyman represents the present and the future of what my Sunderland will look like. Sunderland through and through - he plays with the kind of determination that is critical at this level. Great lad.

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Season 1 - September



Ever had one of those nights on the town where, no matter how good you think you are going with a lass, you just can’t seal the deal? Yeah, this was like that… We looked like certainties all game until, a silly 2nd​ yellow, a goal from the ensuing free kick, and Oxford went home with someone else….

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Checkatrade trophy was up next. So of course we would go on to play our best game of the season in a practically meaningless competition… We smashed Burton from the opening whistle. Continuing my analogy, if Oxford were the girls who stood us up, then Burton became the kebab you end up demolishing on the walk home…

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Before the Fleetwood game I got an option to postpone due to some international callups. At the time I was told I would have 5 players missing. Employing science, I figured that my backups should be stronger than their backups and choose to leave the fixture where it was. No way that was going to backfire spectacularly!!!

Eeggghhh! This one hurt. We ended up having 13 players away on national team duty with a number of younger players getting subsequent call ups and, although we still fielded a decent team, it was Fleetwood who took home the points and they, in the process, leapfrogged us into the automatic promotion spots…

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Having easily dispatched them already this month a trip to Burton in the league didn’t immediately worry me. It should have though…. They were by far the better side and we were really quite lucky to come away with a point. Not ideal…

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Poor Zachie Clough… We faced Rochdale next and should have won by ten. Clough, of course, scored with their only attempt of any real note while we hit the post a couple of times in addition to our two goals. Shaking his hand after the match I told Zach he was too good for this level, he looked over his shoulder, towards his team mates and just shook his head. Poor lad…

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Where to start? We started off like our minds were on holidays and quickly found ourselves three nil down at Coventry. A precursor to Sunderland Till I die was Premier Passions in the late 90’s and in it, Peter Reid became famous for some of his half time sprays he would give the players. Let me tell you, I would have given prime Peter Reid a run for his money today.

I was furious, apoplectic even, as I addressed the players from the side line. I couldn’t wait until half time, spittle flew from my mouth as I gave it to them. And guess what? It worked! From 3 nil down we came back to draw 3 all. ***** start, but a great result ultimately.

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TABLE

So we sit in 5th​ then at the end of September. Do we deserve it? Frankly, probably not. We have been decidedly average this month. We need to improve on this.

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PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

The amount of interest this kid has already is astounding. Only turning 17 this month he has had enquiries from the likes of Chelsea. To stave off interest we locked him into a pre-contract that was formalise this month. He is Bali Mumba, having already featured for the first team in the final match of last season I know I will be trying to get him some game time to aid his development. I’ll say it, this kid could just be the best player to come out of the Academy of Light and yes, I am fully aware that includes the likes of Jordan Henderson and Jordan Pickford. Hang on… Maybe there is something to that… If you are having a kid in the North-East – maybe call him Jordan. Just sayin…

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Season 1 - October



And Peterborough got sent to DESTINATION F****D!!! Ozzy Man couldn’t have said it any better… Don’t let the final scoreline fool you… They came out with their flippy-tricky 5-2-1-2WB formation trying to bamboozle us but we didn’t fall for it, heading into the break 4-1 up before taking our foot off the gas and coasting it home in the 2nd​… Maxie Power had been having a whinge too about a lack of playing time so I was ready to transfer list his *** after he had delivered basically nought before this match and then he goes and scores a couple of worldies. You bought yourself some time Max…

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Woah, woah, woah!!! Whats going on? It’s like a complete 180 from September. We absolutely belted Bradford here. 4 zip and, to be completely honest, it could have been more. I love how we are sharing the goals around also with McGready, McGeouch, Sterling and Morgan the lucky ones today. Remember lads – sharing is caring!!

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The action then turned back to the Checkatrade trophy and, with one eye firmly on keeping the squad as fresh as possible for the league, the changes were rung up. I took the opportunity to get Bali Mumba another taste of first team action and his didn’t disappoint, looking at home in midfield against the much older opposition in the form of the West Brom U23’s side.

When Aiden McGready went down with injury on the stroke of half time though I was forced into changes including shifting Will Grieg to a more unfamiliar left wing role. We were the better side all match and a late free kick goal from Alim Ozturk and then a penalty converted by Grant Leadbitter saw us home 2 zip. Nice run out.

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Shrewsbury has been surprising everyone so far this year sitting in 2nd​ coming into this match with us a further point behind in 3rd​. We knew this would be a match that could ultimately have a huge bearing on the season… The first half began as a cagey affair – we had more of the ball, but they were a threat on the break. The breakthrough came 5 mins from half time as a low cross was swung in and eventually turned past his own keeper by Mat Sadler as he rushed to get a toe on it.

As Shrewsbury then had to press more the gaps opened up in behind them and we began to look more dangerous. Will Grieg then suffered an injury shortly after coming on as a substitute that forced us into a reshuffle with winger Lewis Morgan being asked to play up front. That blunted our effectiveness and we were lucky that our inability to put that game away didn’t hurt as as Shrewsbury got the ball in the net in injury time but the goal was chalked off for offside. Very lucky…

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Our next fixture against Doncaster came only a few days after the Shrewbsury match so we were forced into some changes. Perhaps it was the unfamiliararity that showed as Doncaster took an early lead. It didn’t last long though as Maxie Power scored another screamer after Leadbitter had failed to put us ahead from the spot. Making it real hard for me to sell you Maxie… It wasn’t all good though as Doncaster regained the lead before the break.

In a rather desperate roll of the dice, I sent on Bali Mumba and he won a free kick that Sterling then headed home from. Done good kid!

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The final match of the month saw us welcome Southend to the Stadium of Light. We dominated possession but struggled to break them down for the most part. Substitute Chris Maguire coming to the rescue halfway through the second half before Gooch added a second late on. Eh, its 3 points I guess…

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TABLE

There we go!!! Top of the table lads!!! Now we just need to stay there….

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PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

This guy has been an ever present in my side, often being the difference between winning and losing and no, I am not talking about Kazaiah Sterling. Jimmy Dunne is on loan from Burnley and has been an absolute rock in the heart of my defence. If there was one loanee I would like to keep on after this season – it’s this guy.

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