The Prelude: game time Saturday 10/10/2026
Theo held his head in his hands, his leg twitching with agitated frustration. At 22 this was his fourth successive season of beyond excessive devotion to watching Sunderland A.F.C play football up and down the country. Today he was at Notts County watching his side trailing 0-1 and struggling to create any decent chances to score against a stubborn and well organised Patrick Eagles side. Rewind two seasons and he was riding high on the wave of euphoria with Sunderland securing promotion to the Premier League. Sitting in the bottom half of the Championship with 3 wins from 12 and minutes away from another loss, he felt a million miles from that now. Notts County fans were aiming chants of “sacked in the morning” at Sunderland manager Sean Dyche. The travelling support failed to muster any words in defense. As the final whistle blew, Theo joined in with the boos and protests from an increasingly toxic contingent. There was an air of absolute disbelief in what they were witnessing. A number of these players were part of the same team that successfully won promotion only 2 seasons ago. “At least the pies were good” is all Theo could say to his travelling buddy George. “Fair play Notts County though” said George. “Manager’s got them well drilled. Could use a bit of that here.” The next morning Sean Dyche departed Sunderland A.F.C. Patrick Eagle was very quickly among the favourites to take over.
The arrival: game time Wednesday 28/10/2026
Patrick Eagles walks into his new job as manager of Sunderland A.F.C with a huge smile on his face. He should. As manager of Notts County he has only known success and an upward trajectory. His ability to get the best out of his players and make Notts not only a team that are hard to beat but one that is consistently competing way above expectation has got many commentators predicting success for the manager at the top level of the game and perhaps a move to a Premier League club. He has risen from non-league football to the second tier of English football in only 3 years and finished last season in the playoffs, a phenomenal achievement for a team predicted to struggle against relegation.
“Patrick Eagles will be wanting to disperse the dark clouds at the Stadium of Light.”
His form with Notts County has been in stark contrast to the recent fall of Sunderland A.F.C who, since getting relegated from the Premier League only one season after promotion, find themselves in 20th position in the championship with Notts County sitting in 3rd. Some may question why he has chosen to depart the success he has built with Notts and take on a challenge at a club sinking fast. Morale is at an all time low at the Tyne and Wear club with previous manager Sean Dyche leaving under a storm of dressing room unrest and a hostile atmosphere among the fan base. Patrick Eagles will be wanting to disperse the dark clouds at the Stadium of Light.
Eagles may perhaps have found himself pretty dismayed at the continued lack of funds available to build on the success he had at Notts County. Despite competing in the playoff final against eventual winners Southampton, Notts went into the new season with the same financial constraints of the previous one and still needing to wholly rely on loans to bring quality into the squad. The funds available at Sunderland will massively dwarf what he has been used to. He will also find that despite the underperformance, the quality of the squad he is inheriting is vastly superior to that of Notts County. His first big challenge will be to improve the morale in the team and deal with a potentially overwhelming level of discontent. Several players have expressed a desire to leave, including captain Dan Neil and Vice Captain and first choice centre-back Daniel Ballard. Getting these players on side will be crucial if Sunderland are to turn their poor form around.
Football Manager Focus
Notts County catch-up and conclusion of ‘Magpie dreams’
With 24 goals in 45 appearances it was Langstaff’s goals again that fired us to heights in the championship that were unimaginable at the start of the season. There was a fundamental shift in shape with a change from the frequently used double pivot to a midfield three. This was largely due to loaning in whoever we could and building a system around such talents as Gabriel Moscardo, Will Lankshear, Luka Milivojevic and James McConnell. We remained high pressing to try to control games in the opposition half and we focused our play through the centre where we had the most quality in our midfield three. This helped us control possession in most matches but we just didn’t have enough quality to compete against the very best in the league with heavy defeats against Crystal Palace and Leicester and a 1-2 loss to Southampton in the play off final where we were largely dominated in play.
More re-structure was needed going into the 26-27 season where we were not able to re-sign the loans that had been successful. We brought in a talented but raw young 18 year old Libero from Southampton on loan with a promise to play him in that role helping to secure the deal. In what was certainly our best transfer during Eagles tenure at Notts we signed Rodrigo Muniz from Fulham for 33k. He had the height and strength we had been lacking up front since the departure of McGoldrick. With the additions of a speed demon winger from Spurs on loan and the signing of another striker in Ellis Simms we ended up playing a rather dynamic 4-2-4 that was both possession orientated with build up from the back through the Libero role and attacking through one full back getting forward on the left to support Langstaff as an inside forward and the pace of the right winger supplying the two central strikers.
It was working rather well but we were again struggling to compete against the strongest teams in the division with losses against Bristol City who were flying high, Leicester, Luton and Sheffield United. With this in mind and knowing that a lack in depth meant 1-2 injuries could see us struggle for form, the Sunderland job becoming available felt like too good an opportunity coming at just the right time. With Eagles pedigree on the rise I felt confident the job was there for the taking and would be an ideal breeding ground for Eagles to get back on track with establishing a more consistent style and sustained success.
Notts County, it has been emotional! Sunderland, lets roll those sleeves up shall we.
The Black Cats: A new start for Patrick Eagles
When moving to a new club it is always important to take some time to;
- Be aware of the club vision
- Study the squad
- Assess the strengths and weaknesses
- Look at how we compare to other teams in the division
- Evaluate the strength, knowledge and depth of staff
- Set out our objectives
With these things in mind, this is how I assess this Sunderland team we have inherited.
Morale: A happy team is a winning team
Looking at the squad dynamics section presents the immediate challenge that needs to be addressed. With an Abysmal managerial support it is clear that there is a lot of work to be done for Patrick Eagles to get the players onside. Additionally we have 8 players that want to leave the club permanently with a lot of support throughout the squad for their stance.
Transfer requests will inevitably be handed in and the stance will be to accept them. We do not want morale to depreciate any further than it already is and with the transfer window just under two months away, this may buy us a little time to turn things around and force a rethink. Letting some of these players go may also factor into the opportunity for us to rebuild the playing personnel to fit with a new ‘Eagles’ vision for the club. More on that in squad analysis. Other things we’ll be doing to try to improve morale;
- Setting up regular Community outreach and team bonding sessions in training
- Establish a consistently used tactic to maximise familiarity
- Provide the expected game time to as many players as we can prioritising this with those we see as long term members of the squad
Club vision and DNA
The board and supporters are united in their desire to see a high-tempo pressing style of football as well as wanting us to be defensively solid and maintain high levels of possession. Together with Eagles culture of teamwork and cohesion we’ll be defining our squad DNA by prioritising high levels of quality in the following attributes;
- Work Rate
- Teamwork
- Stamina
- Natural fitness
- Aggression
There is also a strong desire to develop the clubs youth system so we’ll be looking at ways we can improve the quality of players progressing from the Academy of Light where Jordan Henderson and Jordon Pickford are the highlight graduates in recent years.
Squad analysis
Comparing the squad attributes with that of others in the league highlights a big problem. We are well below average in 4 out of the 5 attributes set out in our desired squad DNA with Stamina being the only one above. The first team squad is very bloated with some players not even able to be registered due to number restrictions, so it is perhaps not easy to draw any conclusions yet from squad comparisons until we are able to trim the fat. I will delve into squad analysis in more detail in future posts but before moving on I feel it necessary to highlight one player that stands out that we’ll be looking to build the team around and that is Daniel Ballard. Our vice captain who exhibits all the qualities we’ll be wanting to expand on as well as being a quality defender. Let us hope we can convince him to stay!
In Summary
Sunderland A.F.C had a short lived taste of Premier League football in this save and now have a manager in Patrick Eagles who was one step away from it with very limited resources. I am really looking forward to continuing his journey and trying to return Sunderland to the Premier League. It is an exciting rebuild project with an added focus on youth development and I cannot wait to share more in depth analysis on the squad and what we will do tactically.
The stadium name ‘The Stadium of Light’ “specifically references the Davy lamp, a traditional mining lamp, which symbolizes the miners’ journey from the darkness of the mine into the light of day”. Can we meet the clubs desire to “be a guiding light and symbol of hope for the future?” Can we turn those boos from Theo et al into chants of delight? The path to recovery starts now.