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Lee Johnson

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I think in football there is a tendency to cite meaningless statistics. His performance at Bristol City in a higher league competing against clubs of higher standing is in no way correlated to his performance at Sunderland.

Two games does not constitute a slump or a trend.
We've won 1 in the last 4. We have moved from automatic possibles to play off also rans. At this time of the season when you need wins that is the definition of a slump. As for statistics - the only one is he has been a manager for 400 and for 8 seasons and has never, even threatened promotion. If he blows it this season we would be right to question whether he is a manager who can inspire promotion.

I'd definitely give him a go next season but I am right to think a manager with a mediocre record over 400 games maybe doesn't have in him to inspire promotion. You yourself have said he can't maintain excellence - that is an absolute pre-requisite to get promotion. Does Lee Johnson have it in him to maintain excellence and get a team promoted - his record suggests not but lets hope he learns eh?
 

He tries to be too clever for his own good in the interviews. So long as he doesn’t revive the classic Oldham line about “when you’re having an off day the importance of keeping the deficit to one”
 
Hmm. My fuming Black Cat buddy has text me that Sunderlands points return per match under Johnson is precisely the same as it was under your previous manager. Doesn't sound particularly superhuman.

Granted, its better than getting obliterated 4-0 at Morecambe.
Really? I'm not disputing it as I honestly don't know. I just find that quite surprising.
 
Those of us who’ve watched every game this season will recognise that even during our recent unbeaten run, we’ve looked extremely unconvincing in most of those games.

What we’re seeing now is confirmation that the team is a long way from being good enough for automatic promotion. We might scrape promotion via the play offs but promoted or not, the team needs a comprehensive overhaul in terms of personnel in the summer.

The contract situation of many of the players means that we will be seeing a lot of new faces. What I’m not convinced about is whether Johnson and his protocols are what we need to sign the right players or to take us forward.
 
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I like Lee Jonhson as a person and a manager. That said vI don't think he is right for SAFC. We need a manager who has proven quality but not in League 1 but at the top of the Championship and above. We need better quality players to boot. Its a simple but relatively affordable plan for SAFC going forward considering the size of the club and its potential financial windfall all things considered.
I urge the owner to employ a better first team couch should we fail to achieve promotion. The owner will only come to my thoughts and the rest of the SAFC supporters thoughts should we fail this very obtainable achievement this season. Why piss around?
 
It has been a super human effort from Lee to turn the team around this second half of the season. I just sense a bit of mental fatigue in the players after digging so deep for so long.

A superhuman effort that has seen us go from being 8 points off top and 5 points off second when he arrived, to being 8 points off top and 5 points from second now. Superhuman to go from averaging 1.7 points per game under a dire manager who was deservedly sacked to averaging a whopping 1.8 points per game since he left.

He made an excellent decision to recall McGeady to the squad but beyond that, it’s cigarette paper stuff between where we were and where we are despite the window dressing.
 
I could foresee circumstances where we get our act together, have a good go in the playoffs but narrowly miss out, where a case could be made for letting LJ start next season.

However, if we continue to fall away badly from where we are now then I hope KLD finds himself a new manager.
 
There might be a few. Just out of interest, if we finish tamely and falter in the play offs, what would you reckon?
Back Johnson in the summer to bring in his own players and then judge him on results next season. If we’re being honest apart from McGeady this squad isn’t great I didn’t think we’d be anywhere near automatic promotion
 
Back Johnson in the summer to bring in his own players and then judge him on results next season. If we’re being honest apart from McGeady this squad isn’t great I didn’t think we’d be anywhere near automatic promotion

It’s a hell of a difficult decision if the hypothetical situation materialises.
 
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