‘Utter lunacy’, ‘Was always going to happen’ – Plenty of Sunderland fans react to major club decision

Manager Lee Johnson has left his role at Sunderland, the League One club have confirmed.

Former Bristol City boss Johnson was appointed as manager of the Black Cats back in December 2020, with the 40-year-old guiding the club to a third place finish in the third-tier standings.

However, Sunderland were unable to claim promotion back to the Championship, after losing 3-2 on aggregate to Lincoln City in the League One play-off semi finals.

This season, the Black Cats are again pushing for promotion, and sit third in the League One table, one point adrift of an automatic promotion place.

But with the two sides ahead of the club in the table, Wigan and Rotherham, having both played fewer games than Sunderland, Johnson’s now former club are facing an uphill battle to return to the second-tier.

Indeed, that was arguably best exemplified on Saturday afternoon, when the Black Cats suffered a humiliating 6-0 defeat at Bolton, their biggest ever loss at this level.

That it seems, has proved the final straw here, with Sunderland now announcing the sacking of Johnson on Sunday evening.

In a statement confirming Johnson’s departure, the club explained that the search for a new head coach immediately, with news of an interim coaching set-up to be announced imminently.

Johnson’s assistant Jamie McAllister has also left the club. In total, Johnson 41 of his 75 games in charge of Sunderland, and won the EFL Trophy with the club last season.

Taking to Twitter to react to news of Johnson’s departure, plenty of Sunderland fans were unsurprisingly keen to give their thoughts on the club’s decision.

Here, we take a look at what some of those supporters had to say.

Why!!!! 41 wins in 75 games