Former Sunderland coach relishing reunion as Régis Le Bris reign gets underway at non-league neighbours

Elliott Dickman is firmly focused on South Shields as the National League North club prepare to face former club Sunderland in their opening pre-season friendly.

The former Black Cats coach spent over 25 years working in a number of roles at the Academy of Light and helped lead the club’s Under-23s to the 2017 Premier League International Cup final and the Premier League 2 Division 2 Play-Off final four years later. Dickman’s time with Sunderland came to an end in October 2021 as he took up a position with Newcastle United - but he is now fully focused on his first full season in senior management and a reunion with his former club.

Speaking ahead of next Saturday’s friendly at the 1st Cloud Arena (12.30pm kick-off), he told The Echo: “It will be a great opportunity to see some familiar faces and whatever team Sunderland bring, I know it will be a really difficult game for us. From our point of view, we will have a full house at our ground and for some players that will be their first experience of that.

“But we want to make sure we do things right from our side in terms of minutes in players’ legs, not doing too much, it will be bedding in process as part of our pre-season plan but it will be a fantastic occasion. We will be expecting a difficult but these are the games you want to be involved in and although it will be nice to see those familiar faces, it’s about the lads and making sure they get the minutes they need to prepare for the season starting in August.”

The meeting with his former club will kick off Dickman’s preparations for his first season in permanent charge of the Mariners after he enjoyed a largely positive spell in interim charge at the 1st Cloud Arena. After being named as successor to Sunderland legend Julio Arca midway throughout the campaign, Dickman led the club to within touching distance of the National League North play-offs, only to see their promotion hopes ended on the final day of the season.

However, there is a fresh feel about the Mariners squad after Newcastle United prospect Kyle Crossley, Oldham Athletic midfielder Dan Ward and former Whitby Town winger Coleby Shepherd joined the club on permanent deals and Stockport County youngster Ashton Mee was brought in on a season-long loan agreement. The atmosphere during the first week of pre-season have been ‘very positive’ according to Dickman, who praised the ‘application and attitude’ of his squad since their return.

“I’ve absolutely loved it and the players have been receptive to all of the work we have done so far,” he explained. ”Their application and attitude, as you would expect it to be, has been first class, so there is no surprises there because we know the group. We’ve got a fantastic set of characters who are really passionate and they are prepared to do what it takes. They’ve been first class with what we have done and will continue that. The players have made it easy, the staff have made it easy and it has all been very positive.”