Lee Johnson’s role as Sunderland manager appears to be safe despite reports suggesting his job is hanging by a thread.
The former Bristol City boss led his side to the play-offs but a defeat to Lincoln City over two legs will see the ex-Premier League giants remain in League One for another season.
Sunderland ended the season on an awful run of form that saw them win just one of their last nine games which included defeats to Blackpool twice as well as losses to Charlton and Wigan.
This string of results plus the disappointment of the play-offs has put Johnson under huge pressure and, according to a report published by Football Insider, has led the Sunderland hierarchy to look for a replacement.
This rumour has, however, been quashed by the club’s owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus. Speaking to talkSPORT, the 24-year-old Frenchman said: “Lee Johnson was a long-term appointment from the start, and we all knew that regardless of the outcome of the season that he would be with us next season and I think he is the right man to lead us to promotion, hopefully, in the forthcoming season.”
With the Black Cats releasing their squad details for next season, the Swiss-born owner admitted there will be a number of replacements needed to strengthen the team for the 2021/22 campaign.
“We announced our squad list for next season yesterday and there were a number of departures who will need to be replaced.
“Over the last few months we have recruited a lot of people across the industry, like [head of recruitment] Stuart Harvey and [sporting director] Kristjaan Speakman, so I trust that we have a good team in place to look for the best possible replacements.”
Sunderland have offered new deals to Charlie Wyke, Aiden McGeady, Denver Hume and Luke O’Nien, who are all out of contract, while Callum McFadzean, Chris Maguire, Conor McLaughlin, Grant Leadbitter, Josh Scowen, Max Power and Remi Matthews will all be released.