A nine-year spell at England’s premier competition came to an end last season when Sunderland was finally relegated last year. The club probably survived more relegation wars in the last ten years than the number of goals they scored last season. However, it was doom spelt all along for the Black Cats last season and after finishing rock bottom, they moved down to the Championship.
Things have not gone well for the Black Cats well this season either. Sunderland has just won five of their 28 league matches this season and with only 25 points on the board, they stand in the relegation zone. The club is 22nd in the Championship and looks set to drop further. After failing to guide an aimless Sunderland side to safety last season, Moyes resigned as the manager of the club in May this year. Simon Grayson who replaced the Scot got the sack after only eighteen games in charge.
It is a sad state of affairs for the club’s board and Martin Bain, the Chief executive of Sunderland and the former Rangers man who now have to motivate the new manager Chris Coleman and the team to not get relegated from the Championships.
Often in these situations, two tricks that always help is the arrival of new players and the team to at least stop conceding goals if they cannot outscore. A defensive team builds a resilience in the side upon which the club can base its rebuilding. Therefore the report of an arrival of a new defender could possibly solve two problems at once for Sunderland.
The report gets more interesting with Bain possibly looking at scooping up a player from his former club, Rangers. 21-year-old defender David Bates is the one who has come under Sunderland’s radar. The central defender has been in good form for the Bluenoses but his current contract is set to expire in the summer.
With a new contract yet to be sorted out, the Scot could be on the move come June. A number of suitors are said to be interested in him with Sunderland amongst them. The young centre-back has made only 6 appearances but impressed everyone at the club when he earned the man of the match award in the goalless draw against Celtic.
With Rangers looking at Norwich City captain Russell Martin as another possible addition to their squad, the deal with Bates could become harder to negotiate. Although Bates is a boyhood fan of the club, he will not want to jeopardize his career by staying at a club where he is unlikely to get solid game time; making the move to Sunderland a possibility.
