A few jurnos have wondered why Sam's appointment has not given the team a lift like Swansea and Hull have enjoyed. A few have suggested that he is not the same man following the England debacle. Let's have a look at the Sam affect at Sunderland last season.

He joined Sunderland on 9th October 2015. Their record at that stage was Played 8 Won 0 Drew 3 Lost 5. Sam's first 11 games in charge yielded the following results Won 3 Lost 8 and they were firmly in the relegation zone at 31 December. At that stage I would imagine that the Sunderland players had no confidence and their fans were reacting then pretty much in the same way ours are now. During the January transfer window Sam bought two centre backs (Kone & Kirchhoff) and a midfielder (Khazri). Their results for the last 19 games were Won 6 Drew 9 and lost 4. The results of the critical final 10 games were Won 3 Drew 6 Lost 1.

Sam did not instantly make Sunderland a better team but he knew what to fix and brought in the players to do it. We have not yet had the full benefit of our January signings and there is still time for the team to turn it around.

We the fans have made our feelings clear to the players and so has Steve Parish. The best way we can play our part in the great escape is to sing our hearts out on the terraces. See you there!