What does a new head coach mean for Sunderland’s strategy? (2024)

While digesting the news that the long search for a Head Coach was finally over, Le Bris revealed to us in a typically brief Club statement via social media, a few things struck me immediately. Firstly, of course, was the identity of the new man - something most fans have likely suspected for a while is that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman wanted to bring in their ‘own’ man, which to most of us meant a foreign, youth-focussed coach, likely with a French background.

Will Still’s name was bandied about for months, and of course, he’d seem to fit that bill in his own way, but for me Le Bris is just as much the sort of name I’d have expected, particularly looking at his long and fruitful spells coaching age group football at Wasquehal, Rennes and latterly Lorient.

Just as interesting as his identity, though, is the way he was described in the club statement. Take his youth coaching experience:

He is aligned with [...] our passion for talent development.

An immensely successful tenure with Les Rennais included an Under-18 national title and victory in the Coupe Gambardella, France’s equivalent of the FA Youth Cup.

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Régis moved to Lorient in 2012 to lead the Club’s youth development programme and he nurtured many highly regarded talents.

In a fairly short statement, that’s a lot of space to dedicate to academy and youth coaching. It speaks volumes about the Club’s commitment to their principles of bringing young talent through at the Stadium of Light, which has seen the likes of Dan Neil, Anthony Patterson, and Chris Rigg among others break into the first team over recent seasons.

It’s clear to see Le Bris’ brief at Sunderland will be ‘more of the same, please’ from that point of view.

Photo by Robert Smith/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images

In amongst the usual platitudes and niceties of an unveiling statement were a few other choice words, though. Depending on how much you enjoy psycho-analysing Kristjaan Speakman, it may or may not have piqued your interest when he said the following:

We are excited by the new ideas Régis will bring to Sunderland and look forward to supporting him in his new role.

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Now, this could be misplaced optimism, but allied with the noises coming from the club about how much they’ve been learning from their mistakes this season and wanting to put things right, I’d say this paints a slightly different picture than we’ve seen up to now. Alex Neil and Tony Mowbray, in particular towards the end of their tenures, took public issue with the perceived strictness of the model they were operating under, from transfers through to picking young players every week. Here, though, Speakman points to ‘new ideas’ he hopes Le Bris will bring, and himself ‘supporting’ the new Head Coach.

I’ve long suspected that the club have been somewhat biding their time, content to consolidate and build slowly as they gain a foothold in the Championship. To me, this suggested that when they wanted to start making a real go at promotion, beyond a single season punt, this would coincide with a more ambitious coaching appointment and a slight change of direction with recruitment. Say what you will about Le Bris, he may succeed or he may fail - either way, he’s Speakman and Kyril’s man, moreso than any other we’ve seen under their reign at the Stadium of Light.

Landing finally on recruitment, then, where the sensible place to start is Simon Moore’s arrival on a two-year deal as competition and backup for Anthony Patterson. At 34 years old, Moore is substantially older than most of the squad, and every single other signing under the current regime. This, alone, signals a change in intention to me, as do both the club and Speakman’s words in his signing announcement.

Photo by Richard Sellers/PA Images via Getty Images

Moore has extensive experience under his belt [...] Simon has a different profile to many players within our group.

It could not be plainer that experience, age, wisdom - whatever you feel like calling it - is effectively the reason Moore’s been signed. Where previously the second keeper has been Alex Bass or Nathan Bishop, and easily could have been Matty Young this season, the club have decided they need to bolster the squad in more intangible ways.

This should please all of us. For me, as someone who is fully behind the club’s desire to build on youth and develop that way, this is fantastic as the squad absolutely needs experienced heads within it to provide some stability over the course of a turbulent season. If you’re more of a sceptic, which is fair, it should still come as a plus that the club might be turning back towards some more ‘normal’ signings, rather than everything being a calculated punt on potential.

This all, ultimately, serves as the launchpad for the next stage of the plan, in my view. Get out of League One - check. Stabilise in the Championship - nervy last year, but check. Next step - go for promotion. That means bringing in a Head Coach they feel can get us up - which by the sounds of it, they believe is Le Bris. It means assembling a squad with quality throughout, which I think we all can see is there or thereabouts. Then, it means altering the budgets and the recruitment strategy to include a few more short-term signings with an eye for the present, rather than the future - and at 34, Moore is definitely for the now.

It may mean we sell one or two to fund this next stage of the model - and we are all braced for Jack Clarke to attract bids - but should this all come together, we could be in for a very exciting few seasons... or we could go down.

Well, that’s Sunderland for you!