Low-risk Sunderland decision produced bigger rewards than many expected: View | OneFootball

Tony Mowbray looked to be a solid addition when he was appointed, but he proved to be a bigger success on Wearside than some had expected.

Highlights

During the summer of 2022, Sunderland were trying to strengthen their squad in their quest to be strong enough to retain their place in the Championship for the long term and potentially go further than that.

At that time, the Black Cats had only just been promoted after spending four long seasons in League One following back-to-back relegations.

But following their play-off final win against Wycombe Wanderers, there was a real buzz at the Stadium of Light and under Alex Neil, many fans would have believed that they could go far.

They made some decent signings during the summer too, with the likes of Daniel Ballard, Jack Clarke, Aji Alese and Ellis Simms all coming in before the start of the 2022/23 campaign.

And the Wearside club made a fairly positive start to the season, going unbeaten in four of their opening five league games of the season under Neil and taking eight points from a possible 15.

But a curveball was to be thrown at the Black Cats after that, with Alex Neil joining league rivals Stoke City and leaving the Wearside outfit needing to make a managerial appointment very early on in the season.

Tony Mowbray's appointment at Sunderland

Just a couple of days after Neil's departure, owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus moved to appoint Tony Mowbray, who had been a free agent since the end of the previous season after being let go by Blackburn Rovers.

Mowbray was seen by some people as a steady, but unspectacular appointment.

As an experienced manager, he looked to be a safe pair of hands, but it was unclear whether he was going to enjoy any success at the Stadium of Light after missing out on the play-offs with Blackburn at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.

Tony Mowbray's time at Sunderland was much better than many had expected

Mowbray, however, proved to be a real asset at the Stadium of Light.

It's fair to say that he had some decent tools at his disposal, with Anthony Patterson stepping up well between the sticks, Danny Batth proving to be an asset in central defence and the likes of Jack Clarke and Amad Diallo thriving.

However, the Black Cats had only just been promoted at the time of Mowbray's arrival and he had to cope with a shortage of striker options for a decent chunk of the season.

Not only did Ross Stewart spend the majority of the 2022/23 season on the sidelines, but Ellis Simms also left the club in January after being recalled by parent club Everton.

The shortage of striker options, combined with Mowbray's poor end to the previous campaign at Ewood Park, weren't promising signs for the second half of the season.

But the experienced manager was able to squeeze the best out of the likes of Clarke and Diallo and oversaw a nine-game unbeaten run that lasted from mid-March to the end of the regular campaign, which allowed them to sneak into sixth position.

Unfortunately, a shortage of defensive options meant they were unable to overcome Luton Town in the play-off semi-final, despite winning the first leg 2-1.

However, Mowbray could be proud of his first season in charge on Wearside and it's a shame that his spell ended on a poor note.

But even though results didn't go his way during the latter stages of his time with the Black Cats, many people were outraged when he was sacked.

And his sacking hasn't paid dividends for the Black Cats at the time of writing, with Mick Beale and Michael Dodds both struggling last term following Mowbray's dismissal.

It's fair to say that the latter's spell, despite the way it ended, worked out much better than some people thought it would, even with his experience in mind.

The Black Cats will now be hoping that Regis Le Bris can play a big part in taking them to the next level.