Next Sunderland manager: How and why Régis Le Bris emerged as the overwhelming favourite

It has been an interminable wait, first as Sunderland’s already flatlining season collapsed and then as spring slowly turned to summer (well, sort of) without news.

Now, 123 days since Michael Beale departed, we may finally be nearing white smoke above the Academy of Light. Régis Le Bris has emerged as a clear frontrunner for the Sunderland vacancy and though the deal is not yet done, the expectation from all sides is that it is now in all likelihood just a matter of time. Le Bris is still in post at FC Lorient and while his departure is expected and has been widely trailed across French media in recent days, it is not yet rubber-stamped and so negotiations between the two are continuing. 

There is no getting past the fact that it is a huge gamble on Sunderland’s part at a time when the dismal end to last season, two disappointing transfer windows, Beale, the Black Cats bar and the rest have left trust in the club hierarchy arguably as low as it ever has been since Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ arrival in 2021. Le Bris, after all, is still relatively inexperienced as a head coach in senior football and FC Lorient’s most recent campaign ended in relegation from Ligue 1. It was not an anticipated relegation given the budget and so given both the length of the process and the struggles of his predecessor, there will inevitably and understandably be scepticism as and when the new era begins.

Sunderland’s view is that it’s worth scratching a little below the surface in that regard. Le Bris’ initial promotion to the top job at Lorient was hugely successful, finishing in a widely-praised 10th-placed finish. Le Bris is understood to have been on the club’s longer-term radar since around that time, at which point he was heavily linked with the job at OGC Nice - only compensation prevented him taking one of the biggest jobs in France. With key players (whose development Le Bris had played a key role in) departing as a result of that strong campaign, the belief is that there are mitigating circumstances for last season and that it may have presented them with an opportunity to hire a coach of a calibre who may otherwise have been out of the reach of a second-tier club. Other factors in Le Bris’ favour is his record in youth development, having spent long periods both in the academy at Lorient and also at Stade Rennais. His English is said to be good and Sunderland believe both his coaching and playing style will suit both the squad and the wider strategy. On both of those points, the scrutiny over the coming months is going to be intense. Much the same was said about Beale around the time of his appointment and yet the front-foot, fearless football of Tony Mowbray seemed to evaporate in a matter of months. A huge gap between what Sunderland were said to be and what they actually were rapidly emerged, and there will inevitably be calls for more widespread change if this next appointment does not fix that error.

Le Bris’ appointment, if and when it is confirmed, will at least bring clarity and direction to a club that seemed to be so drifting without leadership on or off the pitch in recent months. It has been a longer process than anyone would have liked, in some cases for reasons in Sunderland’s control and in some cases outwith. The search did not really begin in earnest until April, with the Black Cats initially taking time to assess what had gone wrong under Beale and to tweak their recruitment criteria as a result. There appears to have been recognition from inside the club that more consideration needed to be given to some of the more external factors that come with managing a club of Sunderland’s size and so coping with the pressures and strains as a result. How Le Bris communicates and copes is therefore going to be one of the most interesting aspects of his tenure, for the expectation on Wearside will rightly be of a play-off push at a minimum next season. The club also felt it was best to wait until the summer having struggled to attract their favoured candidates in mid-season following Mowbray’s departure. There was a high price to pay for that as the season ebbed away into mediocrity and then eventually somewhere even worse, raising the pressure on this appointment.

Le Bris was part of a five-man shortlist once the initial stages of the search got underway, all of which were at the time in work and all of whom the club felt would be a good option. Sunderland then moved quickly to focus on Will Still, who has been long admired by the club hierarchy, when his departure from Stade de Reims was confirmed. Those negotiations dragged on longer than anyone had hoped and regardless of who you believe was to blame, ended in failure when Still ultimately opted to move to RC Lens. In this period, the future of one of Sunderland’s other candidates had already been resolved and now Le Bris’ candidate was being strengthened.

Other candidates entered the fray as Sunderland moved forward. Pascal Jansen is said to be hugely admired by club figures and so while he did not emerge as the frontrunner this time, ultimately moving to Ferencvaros and the challenge of Champions League football with the Hungarian champions, it’s therefore possible he could again enter the conversation somewhere down the line. Liam Rosenior’s shock sacking from Hull City led to initial talks over zoom but he was clearly not entirely sold, instead opting to bide his time with Burnley known to be lurking. Sunderland could not afford to wait as pre-season neared and Le Bris was keen. 

He emerged as the clear frontrunner around a fortnight ago, with confidence that a deal could be done thought to be behind Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ now infamous statement to fans that a decision was ‘hopefully imminent’. Work permits and negotiations with Lorient dragged out the process and while that is still ongoing, the news of Le Bris’ likely departure in France reflected the fact that things are now accelerating. Sunderland believe they’ll now be ready to attack pre-season; their structure means recruitment rumbles on regardless of the head coach and as part of his (hopefully) imminent recruitment Le Bris has already done extensive research on the squad and fed in his thoughts.

There is a hope that in landing a candidate who Louis-Dreyfus is clearly familiar with and rates personally, there may finally be something approaching alignment behind the scenes after the tensions of the previous head coaches often played out in public. While few would have initially raised Le Bris’ name, this was the profile of appointment expected after Mowbray’s initial departure. 

The lingering fears for many fans that Sunderland’s structure and budget is off-putting to the very best calibre of coaches at the level, heightened by Still and Rosenior’s decisions, will not be allayed by Le Bris’ arrival after his last campaign and after 123 days, nor will the belief that Sunderland’s succession planning is not as strong as been touted. There may also be some disappointment that interest in QPR boss Marti Cifuentues did not develop after a brilliant campaign at QPR, and all would argue that no matter the head coach - much stronger recruitment is requires this summer. As ever, all of these opinions will be shaped by the strength of Le Bris’ work and how well he fits into both the Championship and the unique environment that is Sunderland AFC.

After the 2023/24 campaign, it is a huge moment in Sunderland’s journey and undoubtedly a step into the unknown. Of only one thing can you be sure: it won’t be dull.