Sunderland’s hierarchy has damaged trust, yet an opportunity remains following the recent appointment of a Polish manager to replace the recently terminated coach.
Sunderland’s appointment of Michael Beale reminded me of something that probably happened to us all in our childhoods.
It was like that time that your mother took you to buy new school shoes. You had an idea of what you wanted. After all, it was your school and your feet. However, your mother had other ideas. She’d pick out the kind of shoes she wanted her child to be seen in.
Obviously you would try those shoes on. They were almost certainly too stiff, uncomfortable and everything you knew wouldn’t work, but your protestations fell on deaf ears. You’d tell her openly that they were hurting your feet, were a bad fit, and they were just the wrong shoes for you.
However, you’d then be told, by someone who wasn’t going to wear them and didn’t really know what you needed: ‘give them time, you’ll walk them in.’ You never did. When your shoes are a bad fit, you just know.
After that, it was always difficult to trust your mother to pick your shoes, no matter how many times she might have got it right afterwards.
Similarly, Sunderland fans knew that Michael Beale was a bad fit from the moment rumours started of his appointment.
You can try to paint them as the villains there if you want, say they were just being angry because they didn’t like his accent or facial features. It’s a silly argument, and one that attempts to amplify a stupid minority to drown out the legitimate concerns of the overwhelming majority, but make it if you must.
