RICKY Sbragia has admitted that keeping Sunderland in the Premier League may not be enough to keep him in his job.
Defeat of West Brom today would all but rubber-stamp another season of top-flight football for the Black Cats, but Sbragia says he is in the dark about whether he has impressed the board enough since taking over from Roy Keane to ensure the club does not make a change in the summer. And The Journal understands that, should he keep Sunderland up, Sbragia will mull over his own future after privately expressing reservations about the huge demands the job has placed on his shoulders.
Chairman Niall Quinn has been fulsome in his praise for Sbragia and will consider it ‘mission accomplished’ if he manages to keep the Black Cats in the domestic game’s elite league. But there are clearly discussions to be had between manager and the board when the season is concluded. Sbragia is on record as saying he values his privacy and admitted this week that he would not have become a manager but for Keane’s sudden departure from Sunderland.
Achieving safety would likely buy Sbragia more time if he wanted it – but the Sunderland boss admits that the club are likely to face another couple of years of “struggle” before establishing themselves as a top-flight fixture.
Sbragia says he does enjoy the job – but he
also admits it places huge burdens on his time and private life and that losing football games is ‘murder’.
“I want to keep Sunderland up. Whether that’s good enough for the people upstairs is another thing. I can’t talk or think about what they’re thinking,” he said.
“From my point of view, the next three or four years are going to be difficult to be honest.
“It’s always difficult until you get a foot in the door.
“The first four years (in the Premier League) are difficult. You have to chop and change your squad around and bring in better, it’s as simple as that. There are bad times when you lose a few games and it’s not pleasant. You just hope the people upstairs want to stay with you, it’s as simple as that.
“As a club we need to continue progressing. That’s at the stadium, on the playing field and at the training ground, too.”
While there is a degree of uncertainty over his future, it has not stopped the club from making plans for the future. Sbragia has made several Continental scouting missions and put plans in place for pre-season, as well as holding discussions with the board regarding player recruitment and new contracts.
Whether he is in charge to follow through on those plans will depend on how much he fancies a full season of the stresses of management.
“I do enjoy it – I took it over and I have to do my best. I have to put my all into the club,” said Sbragia.
“Last week was fantastic for us. I enjoyed Saturday. The Sunday and Monday were enjoyable as well. But when you lose, it’s murder.
“You look at everything and it’s all down to me at the end of the day. I look at it, I send the team out and at the end of the day, the buck stops with me. I put the onus on the players. I ask them for commitment and desire.”
Sbragia also revealed that, at the suggestion of reserve team coach Neil Bailey, he has asked the players themselves to come up with the targets that they want to meet to stay in the top flight.
“We’re trying to get the players to set targets for themselves. It was Neil’s idea. He said: ‘let’s get them together and make them decide’,” Sbragia revealed.
“We said go for points, go for goals for, goals against.
“We’ve done that and they’ve come up with a target. It’s a target we have to do for the next games. We haven’t said anything about it, we’ve just pinned it on the walls.”
