From winning titles with Manchester United to relegation battles with Sunderland, John O'Shea has seen it all

After the Wolves game, Chris Coleman praised John O'Shea not just for his performance at Molineux but also for his dedication and professionalism during the week.
John O'SheaJohn O'Shea
John O'Shea

The Sunderland boss acknowledged how good he has been from his first day in charge and a new boss always needs good senior pros in the dressing room. O’Shea is certainly that.

Since arriving on Wearside from Manchester United, it must have been a culture shock for him after years of playing in title winning teams and Champions League games, to relegation scraps and now Championship football.

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O’Shea has certainly seen it all on Wearside. As well as those battles at the bottom, he has also been part of great derby victories and the thrilling cup run that might have ended in defeat at Wembley but brought great pride to the fans seeing their team perform so well at the national stadium.

He has also seen so many managers come and go at the Stadium of Light since Steve Bruce signed him to Chris Coleman now – a total of nine bosses and that doesn’t include caretakers.

Again, that difference between his former club and his present one couldn’t be wider. In all his years at Old Trafford, he played under just one boss in Sir Alex Ferguson and the stability and continuity not to mention success Ferguson brought, then he joined Sunderland were it has been constant change and chaos which has brought no success at all.

Talking of management, O’Shea is surely thinking of it as his next step in the game as all that experience he has, he can draw on.

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It was interesting when Simon Grayson was sacked that O’Shea was on the bookies shortlist as a possible replacement.

All that is in the future though. At the moment he has enough on his plate captaining Sunderland and playing in a team that desperately needs to get far away from the bottom three as possible.