ONE election might be close to a conclusion, but the process of selecting the new boss at Middlesbrough and Sunderland continues to show no sign of coming to an end. The only thing ‘strong and stable’ at the Riverside and Stadium of Light at the moment is the damaging sense of drift.

With pre-season training not due to begin for at least a fortnight, and with the vast majority of players and agents sunning themselves on a beach in some far-flung five-star resort, both clubs can argue there is no need to panic about the gaping hole at the top of their managerial set-up.

Steve Agnew has sorted out Middlesbrough’s pre-season plans, while Sunderland have already announced the fixtures David Moyes rubber-stamped prior to his departure. Plans below first-team level are being enacted by the respective academy set-ups, and with money sure to be tight in the wake of relegation, there is a financial benefit to both Steve Gibson and Ellis Short not having to pay a new manager’s wages during the close-season hiatus.

Yet that ignores the harm that is being caused by the lack of action since relegation was confirmed. If not exactly fiddling while their institutions burn, there is definitely a sense of the hierarchy at Middlesbrough and Sunderland shuffling their feet as their clubs continue on an increasingly rapid downward spiral.

In the last three weeks, seven clubs - Watford, Norwich City, Wolves, Wigan Athletic, Portsmouth, Swindon Town and Crawley Town – have all appointed a new boss. They have acted decisively while Boro and Sunderland have dithered.

Clearly, it is important not to rush into a decision that could have disastrous long-term consequences. Sunderland, in particular, know all about that. But as well as there being practical reasons why it is important for both North-East clubs to sort out their managerial impasse as quickly as possible, there are also hugely-important symbolic imperatives at work.

The Northern Echo:

BIG DECISION: Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson

After last season’s failures, Boro and Sunderland are clubs on their knees. Supporters, wondering whether to commit to season tickets or buy expensive new kits, need something to believe in and cling to. They need to feel that things have bottomed out, and that there is a coherent plan to restore their club to its former glories.

How better to inspire positivity than the appointment of a new manager with ambitious long-term plans and a passionately-expressed belief in the enduring potential of their new employers?

A new face would provide a lift. At Boro, Garry Monk or Nigel Pearson could speak enthusiastically about the quality of the squad that has dropped into the Championship, and the strength of the financial support being offered by Gibson. At Sunderland, Derek McInnes or Simon Grayson could enthuse about the size of a club that remains one of the most historically-successful in the country.

That is not to say they are the only candidates that should be under consideration, but whoever is appointed on Wearside and Teesside, the narrative at the respective club would immediately change. Relegation would no longer be the only topic of conversation. There would be talk about hope for the future, rather than despair about the past.

Practically, there are also important issues to address at both clubs. The situation is probably most pressing at Sunderland given that eight players are about to come to the end of their contract, three players have already left on loan, and Jermain Defoe is heading to Bournemouth.

The squad is threadbare, and features a number of players – Jordan Pickford, Lamine Kone, Wahbi Khazri and Fabio Borini in particular – who are likely to be sold to raise funds. Every day that passes without a new manager being in place is effectively a day wasted when it comes to remodelling the squad.

The sooner a manager is installed at the Stadium of Light, the sooner they can begin the challenging process of reshaping things for a promotion push. It can be argued there is still plenty of time to get things sorted, but Sunderland will play their opening pre-season game in just over four weeks’ time. And as Moyes discovered last summer, trying to overhaul a squad while pre-season is ongoing is not an easy feat to pull off.

The Northern Echo:

BIG DECISION: Sunderland owner Ellis Short

Things are more stable at Boro, with the bulk of last season’s squad likely to remain in place for the start of the Championship season. There are still key questions that need answering though. Will Ben Gibson be sold? Who will be the club’s number one goalkeeper next season? Should Marten de Roon be moved on while his stock remains high? Can Patrick Bamford and Rudy Gestede replace Alvaro Negredo, or will Boro have to spend big on a new striker?

At the moment, they are questions without answers, and solutions will remain elusive until a new head coach is appointed with the remit to change the squad. Earlier this week, Ben Gibson admitted even Boro’s players are on tenterhooks waiting to discover who will lead them next season.

Uncertainty and inertia help no one. Neither does a rushed decision, but it is now 18 days since both Middlesbrough and Sunderland played their final game of last season. It is high time they started advancing their future plans with the appointment of a new boss.


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NO matter how good the players at your disposal, you don’t throw a team together in the space of a couple of weeks and then expect them to adopt a largely-alien set of tactics to beat the best team in the world.

So talk of the British and Irish Lions suddenly morphing into a red-shirted version of the All Blacks, breaking the line at every opportunity and off-loading at will, is fanciful in the extreme. It won’t happen, and if Warren Gatland’s side try to beat the All Blacks at their own game in the forthcoming three-Test series, they will be embarrassed.

They have to stick to what they’re good at, and that means using Ireland’s 2016 victory over New Zealand as a template for their approach. Ireland shocked the All Blacks with a performance of sustained intensity, monstrous forward power and unshakeable discipline.

Forget the disparaging term, ‘Warren-ball’, it is simply about using the long-held strengths of the Northern Hemisphere game to outfox technically-superior opponents.

That is the way the Lions can win in New Zealand, and it is how they must approach tomorrow’s game against the Crusaders. The tourists have to play on their own terms, and not be sucked into a debate about the aesthetics of attacking.