Page 39 - 358264 LP231909 A Love Supreme 48pp A5 (Issue 257)

Ironically, despite our attacking style of play, we have once again found ourselves frustrated by drawing too many games, at the start of the season this wasn’t
an issue, indeed before we took on Ipswich at home,
we had only drawn one game all season. Since then though, we have drawn five times in 13 games, and with the exception of Ipswich away in December, we have held the lead in each of those games. This is maddening enough, but when you consider that at both Shrewsbury and Accrington, the hosts found themselves down to ten men, had we simply scraped home in both those games we would currently be sitting top of the league.
In a way this is the most frustrating thing about Lee Johnson’s time at the club, for all the streaks, for all
the hammerings we endured, for all the poor showings on the road, we have constantly been on the cusp of breaking into the automatic promotion places. It is easy to see why the sacking looks harsh from the outside looking in, but given the evidence provided from his career long body of work and his time at Sunderland, it was clear that Johnson wouldn’t be able to get us over the line.
This is why change was imperative before things became totally irreparable, sure we would probably have handsomely dispatched of Doncaster, and probably Cheltenham too, but with Johnson even when the good times were rolling, there was always the nagging doubt at the back of your mind that an impending disaster was just around the corner.
The timing of his dismissal allows a new manager to come in with a fair period of grace, where automatic promotion, while not unattainable, is a tall order and therefore a play off finish would not be viewed as a disaster and at the very least we wouldn’t enter such a
campaign with the ghosts of last season’s unsuccessful attempt to steer us through the play offs looming over us.
Of course, I am not saying that Johnson was without his strengths, as I pointed out earlier when we played well the football we played was comfortably the best since
we came down to League One and regardless of the competition’s stature, history will record that he was in the dugout for Sunderland’s first cup triumph since 1973. He also must take enormous credit for his ability as a coach and has a proven track record of improving players,
last season he found a way of getting Charlie Wyke on the score sheet on a regular basis and this season has helped Ross Stewart become more prolific than at any other stage of his career.
His track record with youngsters is also admirable, having given Dan Neil the opportunity to become an integral
part of our team, as well as showing faith with the likes of Elliot Embleton, Callum Doyle and Dennis Cirkin. Johnson ultimately ended his stint as our manager with a win percentage of 51% in all competitions, recording 40 wins, 20 draws and 18 losses.
When we sacked Phil Parkinson, I commented that
a moderate League One manager turned us into a moderate League One football team, with Lee Johnson again, a serial ‘nearly’ man has proven to be just that and we find ourselves in the nether zone of not being quite good enough to be consistently in the automatic promotion places but not bad enough to drop out of the playoffs altogether.
I hope Lee Johnson one day manages to overcome his ‘streaky tag’, but I can’t pretend to be disappointed by his departure and the timing was probably about right for both parties.
ALOVESUPREME
ISSUE257
39
BY MICHAEL LOUGH