Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: Being Sunderland boss looks the impossible job

That was the opening line of Jack Ross’s statement, as released by the League Managers’ Association this week.

Although, it could have been the opening line of any of the nine departing Sunderland managers who have left the Stadium of Light shaking their head in the last eight years.

What is it about the Wearside club that has made the manager’s post a truly impossible job?

Ross was dismissed after less than a year and a half in the post, joining Chris Coleman, Simon Grayson, David Moyes, Sam Allardyce, Dick Advocaat, Gus Poyet, Paolo Di Canio and Martin O’Neill who have all come and gone since Steve Bruce left the job in November 2011.

Only once did Sunderland appear to be on an upward trajectory. That was when Allardyce took over from Advocaat in October 2015 and got the defence sorted out, loaded the midfield with numbers and turned Jermain Defoe into a top-performing lone striker up top.

After a couple of weeks’ of pre-season in 2016, Sunderland fans were looking forward to Allardyce’s first full campaign in charge. Then England came calling. It is hard to judge who came out worse from that experience.

Allardyce lost the job he had coveted for so long and trashed his reputation after being entrapped by the Telegraph newspaper while Sunderland set off on the road to League One.

The candid Netflix documentary, Sunderland Til I Die, laid bare the malfunctioning hierarchy and demotivated dressing room during the Championship relegation season of 2017/18.

A club in freefall with no imminent prospects of recovery, Ross took charge for the League One campaign last season. But the campaign ended in heartache with a play-off final defeat to Charlton Athletic.

In keeping with the club’s sense of agony, the Londoners secured victory with a winning goal in the fourth minute of added time.

The style of football under Ross never won over supporters. Performances this season, such as a dreadful 1-1 draw against bottom-place Bolton Wanderers, frustrated fans. The club lie in sixth place in the table but there was no confidence amongst the fan base that Ross could mount a genuine promotion push.

“I leave with my head held high in respect to the depth of commitment and hard work my staff and I applied to the job,” Ross continued.

“Every single one of them has provided me with huge support and are not only good at their jobs, but more importantly are fantastic people.”

The 43-year-old took the job in challenging circumstances, with cost-cutting at the heart of much of the decision-making on the back of two successive relegations.

Internally, there was a belief that he had helped restore not just pride but a sense of unity of purpose to the club. Accounts of an emotional farewell amongst Ross and his staff at the training ground have since emerged.

It seems an odd time to be sacking a manager, with so much uncertainty at boardroom level at the Stadium of Light.

Chairman Stewart Donald has been seeking investors with an American trio of businessmen believed to be closest to securing a deal with their company FPP Sunderland Ltd.

Whether or not the sacking of Ross was done with that in mind is anyone’s guess, but Donald insisted the managerial decision was taken only with a view to giving the team the best chance of promotion.

It all adds to the sense of uncertainty at a club desperately in need of stability on and off the pitch. The squad still contains players of Premier League experience, such as Aiden McGeady and Grant Leadbitter, but the weight of expectation to perform appears to weigh heavily on their shoulders.

Defeat last Saturday to Lincoln City, a team in League Two last season, was the one that ultimately cost Ross his job.

An interesting list of candidates has been drawn up. Gareth Ainsworth is one of the EFL’s longest serving managers and has done well during his time with Wycombe Wanderers.

Former playing hero Kevin Phillips could be considered as a unity candidate. There will be plenty of candidates who will fancy the challenge and who believe they could be the one to turn around the fortunes of this ailing giant.

Recent history suggests that would be a misguided belief, the problems on Wearside run deep. It is a job that has claimed far too many casualties, many of whom have struggled to shrug off their experiences.

Whoever takes the job next will need everyone to pull together because Sunderland just cannot keep on sacking managers.