Lee Johnson time at Barnsley (SAFC Supporter here)

Alright lads, I was last on here asking about Mawson when we were linked (Sunderland) in the summer

Anyway as we have started the season like the worst side in the world (again) it is looking increasingly likely that Moyes is going to lose his job. One of the managers I personally would be interested in is Lee Johnson as I think we need to stop appointing managers who have had previous good reputations or did previous good work and appoint someone who is doing a good job now

We are pretty much in need of a rebuild and I think Johnson is a bright young manager who could go far so I'm wanting your opinions on the job he did at your club, what his transfers were like and the football you played under him

Also as an aside who would you replace Moyes with if he loses his job at Sunderland? I know you wont really care but it's always good to get the opinions of neutrals

Thanks in advance for any replies and best of luck for the rest of the season

 

Only 1 man for the job, Big Sam will be back before Father Christmas gets here

 

Is it likely that David Moyes will lose his job? If an experience manager like Moyes isn't going to get the time to sort out all the problems at Sunderland, is it realistic to assume a younger man will also be given time? Even if a new bloke hits the ground running, once a bad run starts will the knives be out for him, too?

 

He would be a gamble, go back for big Sam.

 

I was over the moon with the appointment of Moyes but he has been a complete and utter shambles so far mate. Even the lads on our message board are using the arguments that we can't keep replacing managers or the job he did years ago at Everton as reasons to keep him on rather than something / anything he has done well

I think most of our supporters would accept relegation if the long term prospects looked like they could get better (i.e. having an actual playing style / getting more value for money with transfers). We have been crap for years and we start each season with relegation being a very large possibility since we don't learn from our mistakes but Moyes has managed to make us even worse than we usually are and I didn't even think that was possible

Unless he improves quite a bit he will be sacked and we'll be all but down by then anyway, give it another month or so with the same results and we will be practically un-saveable

 

Peter Reid.

 

There will be many on here who will tell you what a bad manager Lee Johnson was for Barnsley FC. They will tell you about our run of 8 straight league losses and of our defeat to Altrincham in the first round of the FA cup. They will argue that he took the club to the very foot of the League 1 table, and that the subsequent recovery culminating in 2 visits to Wembley and two wins, was none of his doing. That is was solely down to Paul Heckingbottom. They will be wrong. But I do not want to go into the whys and wherefors of what happened. Instead I want to concentrate on what our club did when a manager brought in to turn the club around was in deep, deep trouble. When the going was at its toughest and 90% of the fans wanted him gone.

They stuck with him.

 

You might be better off asking the Bristol City fans whether Johnson is any good.
Our opinions are soured by the fact that he took us to a record 8 defeats on the bounce and to the foot of League 1 with an FA Cup defeat to Altrincham thrown in for good measure (I assume he would have been sacked for that at Sunderland?) . A large proportion of fans wanted him sacked including me but the chairman stood by him and eventually things turned around culminating in a JPT final appearance and a rise up the league table. However, he repaid that faith shown by the chairman by taking off to Bristol at the first opportunity and the mantel was taken up by Paul Heckingbottom. Hecky is one of our own and he took us to a JPT win and promotion via the play-offs. He's also started quite well in the Championship.
Maybe Sunderland would be better off with a Sunderland born and bred manager - don't know if there are any available but that route has worked for us and the fans have really taken to Hecky.

 

What about the 6 games without a win at the end of previous season ? Clueless in my opinion, said Conor couldn't play in a 2 in midfield, he's played that bad there he's earned an international call up, played Sam Winnall on the wing, a 20 goal a season striker on the wing. Played Alfie Mawson in midfield that went t1ts up. Johnson is a snake

 

Maybe he was just using the last few games when there was nothing left to play for, to experiment a bit? Not making excuses for him like, but just trying to understand why he did those things.

 

Johnson would last about a month at the SOL

 

So far, Moyes has had part of one transfer window in which to do business. Is that really enough to move out all the players he doesn't rate and bring in all those who can move Sunderland forward? Patience at Sunderland appears to be in short supply, similar to Barnsley until recently.
Two years ago, we were relegated from the Championship. Now we're back, with young, hungry, better quality players and a club on a much sounder footing. Perhaps Sunderland may have to do something similar?

 

I have just looked it up. It was 9 without a win (6 draws and 3 defeats) before we beat Rochdale 5-0 in the final game.

Hourihane could not play in a 2 in centre midfield. I was there, so I can confirm it, and I rattled on about the problem on here endlessly at the time because Winnall also struggled to play on his own up front. And it was that specific problem that resulted in our poor run. But as others have said, Johnson and his team worked with Hourihane to improve him. They have made Hourihane into a player who is prepared to work hard and who is prepared to do the defensive side of his midfield role as well. They have made Hourihane into a much better player.

 

He wasn't born up here but he did start his career at Sunderland, maybe he is the man to rebuild us

 

He wasn't born up here but he did start his career at Sunderland, maybe he is the man to rebuild us

 

Fair points but there has top be a tipping point, you don't just stick with a manager in the hope things will get better despite all of the evidence pointing to the opposite

For the record I don't actually want him sacked but unless he improves quite a but it is inevitable, I'm sure I've read recently we have made the worst start in PL history

 

He (Houriane) was not playing in a two then was he?

I saw enough at Notts County away to know we had a one dimensional, identikit bloke in charge. Went one nil up early on and then proceeded to try and sit on it, so much so that they ended up playing two at the back so desperate were they to score. And score they did.

Did nothing to react to that unfolding on the pitch. Good riddance.

 

If you sack him, them bring in a young manager, how long will he get? Three months. four? At some point, the trend of sacking the manager being the only available option has to change?

 

It depends on how they do, like I said in an earlier post most of our supporters would grudgingly accept relegation if they thought the long term future of the club would improve. We need rebuilding in all honesty so whoever the manager is must show signs that they are the man for the job and so far Moyes hasn't progressed us or even kept us performing at the same level he has actually regressed us

Without going into too much detail on his transfers, comments in the media, team selections, substitutions and tactics have all been well below par. If we were in a similar position under Moyes but were fighting or even knowing what we are doing he wouldn't be getting the stick he is. Honestly he has ben awful since he took over in pretty much every aspect of his job

Unless he improves quite a bit why would we keep him on? Because we have had a high turn around in managers in recent seasons or just in the hope that things will get better?

 

From the outside looking in, and admittedly not armed with all the facts, the problems at Sunderland aren't the wave after wave of (often otherwise successful) managers. There was an interview with Poyet the other week saying something similar. And Moyes seemed to be pretty exposed against his will by the summer transfer window. Either way, good luck for the rest of the season