Lee Cattermole hesitates, double-checks his mental arithmetic and grimaces. “Six in four years,” he says. “It becomes a bit embarrassing. It’s not really very nice and it’s not good for the club.” Since Steve Bruce’s sacking in November 2011, Martin O’Neill, Paolo Di Canio, Gus Poyet and Dick Advocaat have passed through Sunderland’s frantically revolving door. Weary of such relentless change, their key midfielder can only pray Sam Allardyce dodges dismissal and sticks around for the long haul.
“All the turnover’s not good,” Cattermole says as preparations for Sunday’s potentially season-changing derby at home to Newcastle United intensify. “It’s not what you want. You want to try and build something. That’s how you create the trust you need, that’s how you improve.”
A pause follows: “But there are times when you need to make decisions. I’ve been here five years and Sunderland haven’t been relegated.”
They have, though, been involved in what seems a permanent cycle of annual, 11th-hour escapes from relegation before the whole sorry process rewinds and repeats.
Temporary relief, however, is traditionally provided by derby victories against Newcastle – Sunderland have won the past five while Allardyce is the club’s fourth successive managerial appointment to have faced the Tynesiders during his second game in charge.
This time, though, Cattermole’s natural optimism is laced with a little caution. He was out furniture-shopping last Sunday when Newcastle beat Norwich 6-2 but he knows better than to underestimate an old mentor.
“Steve McClaren’s a very good manager, I’ve got a lot of time for him,” says the former England Under-21 international who found himself playing Uefa Cup football for McClaren’s Middlesbrough as a 17-year-old. “Steve was great with me. He handled the players great at Boro, he was hands on. He’s got a lot of experience.”
Even so, McClaren has endured such a frustrating start on Tyneside that Norwich was his first Premier League win with the club. It left Newcastle two places above Sunderland who, still seeking that opening three points of the campaign, are bottom of the table.
Having declared they were “not good enough” to survive, Advocaat resigned just before the last international break but Cattermole remains unconcerned. “I was a bit surprised by Dick’s comments,” he says, his bright blue eyes blazing. “He’s obviously not been happy and he’s said something but we can’t read too much into that. We know what’s gone on inside the dressing room.
“Dick was great for Sunderland. He got connected with the club and really involved and emotional. But this season he made a few changes and, for whatever reason, it just didn’t happen for him. At the end he came in and said: ‘I’ve made a decision to walk away’. We have a lot of respect for Dick, the lads have given their best for him.
“There’s some great lads, some really good characters in our dressing room with a lot of Premier League experience who’ve been through some tough times here but they’ve not shied away from things. I believe we’re better than last year, we’re stronger as a group.”
Sunderland fans could do with some evidence of such progress. “We’re bottom and it doesn’t look great,” says Cattermole. “But we’re not far from turning the corner. Against West Ham the other week we were two up and playing as well as we have for a good few years … then it slipped through our fingers and we drew.”
Allardyce prides himself on ensuring players are in the best possible shape to preserve leads. “He’s really into his sports science – rehydration, recovery levels, ice baths,” says the 27-year-old. “The ice baths haven’t gone down too well.”
At least the bigger picture is favourable. “I always liked Sam’s squads, when you played his clubs you always felt you were playing a team of men,” he says. “I always thought I’d like to be in that team.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Norwich | 9 | -6 | 9 |
| 17 | Bournemouth | 9 | -6 | 8 |
| 18 | Newcastle | 9 | -7 | 6 |
| 19 | Aston Villa | 9 | -7 | 4 |
| 20 | Sunderland | 9 | -11 | 3 |
“Sam fills you with confidence, he’s clearly a very good manager. Whether he gets time, whether he gets the players he wants, that’s out of our hands. But we need stability and that comes from a manager being able to implement his philosophy.
“That can only happen if we make sure he is still in a job come July. We need to keep hold of him and let him build the club. We have to trust Sam Allardyce, give him the reins and say: ‘Go and do your stuff’. At the moment, though, this isn’t Sam’s squad so we must do the best we can for him.”
There could be no better way to translate words into action than by making it six successive wins against Newcastle. “Sunday’s such a huge game,” says Cattermole. “We know what it means, there’ll be an extra buzz.
“It’s not been nice getting beat every week in front of your supporters, your friends and your family. It hurts your pride but we’ve all had to fight to make it in the game and we have to fight now. I honestly think we’re more than capable of staying in this league.”
