The inside story of how Régis Le Bris led Sunderland from 16th to the brink of play-off glory
Sunderland could win promotion to the Premier League on Saturday.
Watching Sunderland’s training in the very early weeks of pre-season, you’d have noticed something interesting.
Put simply, not a lot seemed to have changed. Sunderland’s pre-existing coaching staff were running the sessions, Régis Le Bris watching on from a distance. It stayed this way for a little while, the Sunderland head coach observing, observing and observing some more.
Sunderland had finished the previous campaign in a bitterly disappointing 16th position but there was no immediate overhaul, no great reset. Le Bris had watched hours of footage ahead of the interview process, watching the Black Cats sweep Southampton aside in a 5-0 win. He understood the issue was not of quality but of consistency. So he stuck to a watching brief, looking for the things he liked and things he didn’t like. Each player studied and assessed from scratch, no pre-conceptions or judgements delivered without due process.
By the time Sunderland’s pre-season trip to Spain came around, Le Bris was beginning to make his influence felt but already it was clear that his approach would be steady and studious. He would invariably be the last to bed at night, long hours of the evening spent huddled over his laptop rewatching training sessions and planning ahead.
His attention to detail was beginning to impress, but nobody could be quite sure how this was all going to pan out. After ten games, Sunderland were top.
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What was remarkable about the early stages of the Le Bris tenure was how quickly he used all that information he had gathered to formulate the core of a team that would hit the ground running in spectacular fashion, with a clear identity based on defensive solidity and incisive counterattacking. Eliezer Mayenda had returned for pre-season after a difficult first campaign on Wearside but Le Bris saw a player now better settled in his environment and with pace the pace and tactical aptitude to carry out his game plan.
Le Bris has in his Sunderland tenure been clear-minded, pragmatic and absolutely ruthless. All of that was on show when fans arrived for an U21s game at Hartlepool United to discover that a decent chunk of the first-team squad would be there with them. Sunderland’s senior team had a friendly at Blackpool and with the season now looming large on the horizon, Le Bris decided it was time to focus on those who would be central to his plans. The head coach had now decisively drawn a line under the campaign previous and begun a new era at the club.
He had benefited from the struggles of the campaign previous, undoubtedly, the scale of Sunderland’s collapse underlining the need for change. After a 1-0 defeat at the hands of his former club in April, Tony Mowbray remarked with a little envy in his post-match press conference that many of the players he had been encouraged to play were no longer around. Le Bris arrived at many similar judgments to one of his predecessors, but had greater scope to drive forward from them.
Le Bris built a squad that was focused, hungry, eager to learn and prepared to suffer out of possession when required.
The Sunderland head coach has never come across as one for the ‘arm around the shoulder’ approach to man-management, but he won the respect of the dressing room for his tactical acumen and his honesty. When tough decisions were to be made, they were communicated early and with total clarity. You might not like the decision, but you understood it. In the moments of the season where different individuals saw their form dip, Le Bris’s backing in public was absolute. He was pragmatic but gave players the chance to regain their form, building confidence and trust behind the scenes. From Mayenda’s missed chances over the festive period to Wilson Isidor’s rare goal droughts, to a brief spell where Anthony Patterson made key errors, Le Bris steadfastly refused to let any frustration he was feeling spill out in public. It was no coincidence that Sunderland went until February without losing back-to-back games; Le Bris ensured a young dressing room that could be vulnerable to heightened emotion stayed level no matter what.
Through the wins and then the draws and the (few losses), Le Bris’s temperament never altered. Some of the club’s decision makers wondered during the interview process how Le Bris’s professorial manner would come across in press conferences and the like, having learned the hard way during the Michael Beale era how important communication and connection are at a club of this size. But Le Bris’s truly excellent English, which improved by the day, allowed him to demonstrate a wry humour and intelligence that quickly won respect. While the head coach may not be as big a personality as many who have succeeded in this role, the qualities he did share were more important: he is self-assured and not easily blown off course, respectful but also capable of ignoring the noise in difficult moments. Managing emotions can be as crucial as managing games at a club like Sunderland and on that front Le Bris has been exemplary. He has noticeably settled and relaxed over the course of the campaign, studying more about the club’s history and building a connection with the area on long dog walks with his alsatian (who adores the north east beaches). In the early days, he often went unnoticed on those walks. It’s fair to say that is no longer the case.
It has not been perfect, far from it. At times Le Bris’s loyalty to a small core of players has risked looking like stubbornness when fatigue has won out and points have been dropped late on. Certainly through the second half of the season, there was a noticeable decline in Sunderland’s attacking output as teams worked out their counterattacking style. In the weeks that followed the 2-1 defeat to Leeds United, which all but ended Sunderland’s top-two hopes, it was at times difficult to work out what Sunderland’s playing identity was.
Win on Saturday, though, and all of that will be forgotten.
Regardless, the quiet Breton has achieved something special this season. He has put the pride back into the club and its support, understanding that commitment and hard work is the absolute bedrock from which everything else is built. He has responded to exhilarating wins and disappointing defeats with good grace, humour and an absolute focus on the bigger picture. One win, and he’ll deliver a promotion that few would have dared dream of one year ago.