Can Chris Coleman stop the Sunderland decline since Sam Allardyce left Wearside?

We’ve also seen two ex-managers, David Moyes and Sam Allardyce, taking over at Premier League clubs. I wasn’t surprised by Big Sam’s appointment at Everton, he’s a proven firefighter who will improve both the players and team at Goodison Park, but Moyes has got to consider himself fortunate to land the West Ham post given his record since he left Everton and as we all know, was relegated with Sunderland in his last job.

Of the two ex-Sunderland bosses I see Allardyce being the most successful, as I don’t think the Everton squad is as bad as their early season form suggested.

I reckon Moyes has a much more difficult task at West Ham, who seem to have far more problems, not least their new stadium which their fans don’t seem to like, being far away from the action, the total opposite of what they were used to at their old home of Upton Park.

Moyes’ departure from Sunderland was probably the best thing for all concerned – he never seemed to fully embrace the job, claimed we were in a relegation scrap before the season had barely started and his demeanour became even more negative as results got steadily worse.

I still feel aggrieved about Allardyce’s departure as if it was not the incompetence of the national team at the Euros, he’d still probably be in charge.

The Sunderland team would be completely different and I believe we’d still be a Premier League club.

No one can prove that one way or the other, but the pundits either forget or don’t know that Allardyce only lost one of his last 11 Sunderland games, winning the last two home games by scoring six goals in breathtaking style.

Sunderland weren’t favourites to go down when Moyes took over, it was just incredibly bad luck that the manager who fit us like a glove and had put together a promising team couldn’t see the job through.

Sunderland have been in decline since the moment Allardyce walked out the door, leaving Coleman now as the man to try to get us back to the Allardyce level.