HERE we go again, then. For the fourth year in succession, Sunderland will finish the season with a different manager than when they started it. Yet while the identity of the man in charge changes with alarming regularity, the numbing sense of stagnation and interminable underachievement remains.

For Gus Poyet, whose dismissal became inevitable when Saturday’s four-goal embarrassment at the hands of Aston Villa turned into an unseemly scramble for disgruntled supporters to voice their dissent, read Paolo Di Canio, Martin O’Neill and Steve Bruce. All highly-rated managers who were seen as desirable candidates when Sunderland approached them; all regarded as chronic failures by the time they left the Stadium of Light.

Each had their own individual failings, but when a pattern of such regular upheaval emerges, it is sometimes better to look beyond the day-to-day mistakes. Do Sunderland find themselves in yet another relegation battle because Poyet has been no better than the managers who preceded him? Or are there systemic failings that make it all but impossible for a head coach to engineer lasting progress under the current regime?

It is now six-and-a-half years since Ellis Short assumed control of Sunderland, and in that time the club have finished no higher than tenth. They have successfully avoided relegation, on more than one occasion by the skin of their teeth, and appeared in a Capital One Cup final at Wembley, but despite a considerable net investment, it is hard to claim the club is on a surer footing now than when the Drumaville group departed.

The Northern Echo: Wembley return: Sunderland owner Ellis Short

Having become frustrated at Bruce’s wheeler-dealer instincts, and the huge agency fees that the subsequent churn in players soaked up, Short demanded a more measured approach from O’Neill.

When that didn’t work either, he embarked on the disastrous appointment of Roberto De Fanti as director of football and Di Canio as head coach. Sixteen players arrived from a variety of far-flung destinations, and it is hard to claim that any have proved a success.

Yet while De Fanti and Di Canio have moved on, the overarching model of a sporting director and head coach remains. Lee Congerton is in charge of recruitment and all executive-level decisions, while Poyet was charged with the task of coaching the team. Whoever is appointed to replace him will work with the same restrictions to his position.

Some will claim that the whole concept of a sporting director is anathema to English football, but that is to evoke a supposedly halcyon era when the remit of the manager ran throughout the club. That is untenable today, but it is equally invalid to claim that the current set-up at Sunderland is working. To avoid being in the same position again next spring, something clearly has to change.

The quality of Sunderland’s scouting for a start, with a whole host of players having moved to Wearside, only to fail to live up to their reputation.

Most of the players signed under Di Canio were personally recommended by De Fanti. Under Congerton, there is more of a consensual approach, with Poyet having been allowed to play a pivotal role in identifying and pursuing Ignacio Scocco, Ricky Alvarez, Liam Bridcutt and Will Buckley in particular.

If Alvarez is signed permanently, those four players will have swallowed up more than £18m. Who watched them and deemed them good enough for the Premier League, and who ultimately gave the green light to pursue them? Little wonder Short increasingly sees football ownership as an easy way to squander hard-earned money.

The recruitment of the head coach has been equally unsuccessful, and while there is an obvious need to get someone in for the short term to ensure Sunderland do not start next season in the Championship, the procedure for appointing a long-term successor to Poyet needs a radical overhaul.

Why wasn’t Di Canio’s explosive personality, not to mention his links with fascism, adequately investigated? And why, given Poyet’s avowed desire to play a certain type of football, with his side packed with players who are comfortable in possession and capable of passing the ball quickly, was it assumed he would be able to succeed with a squad whose strengths lay in work rate and energy rather than technical ability?

In fairness to Congerton, he was not involved in either appointment, but rather than pursuing the person he believes to be the best up-and-coming young head coach, it is imperative Sunderland’s sporting director instead looks at who is best placed to extract the maximum from the players currently at the club. The coach needs to adapt to them, rather than vice versa.

Then there is the overarching ethos governing the way in which Sunderland’s players operate and behave. Not for the first time, Di Canio delivered an interview yesterday in which he bemoaned a widespread tolerance of indiscipline and bad behaviour.

The Northern Echo: Paolo Di Canio has been sacked by Sunderland

According to the Italian, players were “getting drunk and partying late, a few days before a game”. Clearly, Di Canio has an axe to grind, but the noises within the game about the conduct of Sunderland’s players are becoming increasingly impossible to ignore.

Last week, an explosive secret footballer column on the internet spoke of a drinking culture among a hardcore group at the club. Senior Sunderland sources have firmly dismissed such claims, but the rumours persist and Di Canio’s comments appear to back them up.

There is a need to reaffirm discipline and cultivate a team ethic strong enough to haul Sunderland out of the hole in which they currently find themselves. Last season’s ‘Great Escape’ was achieved, in part, because the senior players came together to foster a powerful resolve that was channelled towards retaining the club’s Premier League status.

Less than 12 months on, and that resolve has all but disappeared. Restoring it ahead of the final nine games of the season must be a priority for Poyet’s successor.