Lee Congerton, Sunderland’s sporting director, has been placed on gardening leave and will have no involvement in the club’s January transfer window activity.
Considering that Congerton, a former Chelsea chief scout and Hamburg technical director, tendered his resignation earlier this season when Dick Advocaat stepped down as manager this move comes as no surprise.
At the time Ellis Short, Sunderland’s owner, told Congerton he needed to work out his 12-month notice period and tasked him with hiring Sam Allardyce as Advocaat’s replacement. Although Allardyce has an amicable relationship with Congerton, he is the club’s manager rather than head coach and made it clear from the outset he intends to assume control of transfer dealings.
Accordingly Congerton’s position is effectively redundant. Indeed, with Allardyce having spent a large part of last week delegating coaching duties to his backroom staff while he went out on the road talking to agents and managers about possible January acquisitions, the moment seemed right for the sporting director’s exit. It now seems only a matter of time until agreement is reached on a formal parting of the ways.
Short’s experiment with a continental style director of football system has not really worked on Wearside. In the spring of 2013 he appointed Roberto De Fanti to the role but the Italian was sacked after only six months in the job, subsequently being replaced by Congerton.
Allardyce’s attempts to reinforce his squad in January have already led him to travel quite widely, both domestically and across Europe, in pursuit of new players. Should he secure his targets over the coming weeks Margaret Byrne, Sunderland’s chief executive, and Ryan Sachs, the club secretary, will take care of contract negotiations.
