Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray has seen his contract extended until the summer of 2025, according to Chronicle Live.
Despite reaching the play-offs in their first season back in the Championship, rumours surfaced that the Wearside club were looking to replace Mowbray and there was speculation in the weeks following their semi final defeat against Luton Town that the former Celtic boss had been dismissed. Those rumours proved to be unfounded and he remained at the Stadium of Light.
In fact, it has now emerged as quite the opposite, with Chronicle Live revealing that that sixth-placed finish automatically triggered a one-year extension in the 59-year-old’s contract, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2025.
Although the news hasn’t been made public, Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman hinted of the deal during a recent interview;
“Tony has got a significant amount of time left on his contract, so I don’t think that’s a topic like the players’ contracts. Anything regarding staff and contracts will happen behind the scenes, but people shouldn’t have any concerns about that.
“It’d be unprofessional for me to start diving into the details of people’s contracts. Across our staffing structure there’s incentivisation and contracts are performance-based, so you can probably make a good assumption that there’s some incentives in (Mowbray’s contract).”
It’s been an indifferent start to the campaign for the Black Cats, although they finally sparked into life in their final game before the international break when they thumped promotion-favourites Southampton 5-0 at the Stadium of Light. A number of arrivals and departures can be pointed to as a reason behind their early stutter, with Mowbray tinkering with his team in order to find the winning formula.
He will be hoping to build on the previous game’s success when they travel to Queens Park Rangers this Saturday before another away day at Blackburn Rovers four days later.
Writer’s View
It would have been incredibly harsh to have dismissed Tony Mowbray over the summer, particularly with last season’s charge to the Championship play-offs coming just a year after tasting success in the four-team showdown in League One.
Sunderland are a club that should be performing at the highest level and there is a feel at the Stadium of Light that Premier League football will return to Wearside in the near future, and Mowbray deserves the opportunity to be the man to attempt to provide that. There will be stiff competition for the promotion spots in the Championship this season, but there is no reason why Sunderland cannot at least match last season’s achievements.
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