On This Day (17th October 2019): Phil Parkinson appointed Sunderland manager!

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Sunderland appointed Phil Parkinson as manager five years ago today — and we only bring this up just to remind you of how far we've come in such a short space of time...

Ever since the 2019 play-off final defeat to Charlton Athletic, the writing was on the wall for Jack Ross as Sunderland manager.

A consistent inability to perform on the big occasion and a heavy record for drawing games — specifically 1-1 — led to tensions constantly rising after the last-gasp Wembley defeat.

Nothing less than promotion would be acceptable from Ross for the fans, but despite a solid start to the season, performances began to go awry in late September. A 1-1 draw with bottom side Bolton Wanderers marked the beginning of the end for Ross.

Chants of "sacked in the morning" echoed around Bolton's stadium, with the sizeable away crowd happily singing along at the expense of their manager.

In fact, Ross lasted two more games as manager of the team before the ownership of Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven gave in to the deafening calls for the Scot to lose his job.

With Ross dismissed on the 8th of October, a significant number of candidates were linked with the job. Wycombe Wanderers manager Gareth Ainsworth was said to be heavily favoured, along with familiar names such as Kevin Phillips, Stefan Schwarz, and Phil Parkinson.

With Ainsworth already in a job, it was unlikely that the club was going to fork out compensation to bring him in.

This made the likes of Parkinson favourites for the job, given that he was a free agent and the club's finances were said to be in a difficult position due to the failure to get promoted.

Parkinson's previous experience of getting teams promoted, as well as bringing Bradford City to a Wembley cup final, boded well for his chances of landing the role. On this day in 2019, the former goalkeeper was appointed the new manager of Sunderland AFC.

Upon appointing him, Donald pointed to Parkinson's proven track record of getting teams promoted as the main factor in giving him the job.

"Phil has a proven track record when it comes to achieving promotion, and I'm delighted to welcome him to Sunderland," said Stewart Donald, Sunderland's chairman, as Ross's successor took training for the first time at the club's Academy of Light base on Thursday morning.

"During a rigorous recruitment process, it gradually became clear that he was the prime candidate to take the club forward. His CV put him on our shortlist. His references from within the game set him apart. I hope that Sunderland fans will all join me in welcoming him to our historic club, as we look forward to an exciting few months."

Parkinson himself also highlighted the importance of getting the team promoted and felt that the squad at his disposal was good enough to achieve that goal.

"It is both a privilege and immense responsibility to be appointed manager of this great club," he said. "I've been in football a long time now, and Sunderland's immense history, the passion of its fanbase, and its wonderful facilities are legendary within the game.

"It's now up to me to build on the work of my predecessor and deliver the success the fans are so desperate for. This is a good squad of players, and I relish the challenge of working with them to achieve our goal of promotion from League One."

After a horrendous start as manager, Parkinson began to turn the tide after the festive period, with the team going on a strong run of results to put themselves back in the promotion picture.

Their final game before the Covid-19 outbreak saw them draw 2-2 at home to Gillingham before the season was curtailed.

The following season, cracks began to appear again as Parkinson fell out with key player Aiden McGeady, whilst also failing to ever sustain a positive run of form on the pitch to keep Sunderland close to the top of the table.

Additionally, his dour personality was reflected in the team's style of play, which turned off many fans during his tenure.

Upon the takeover of Kyril Louis-Dreyfus in late 2020, Parkinson was dismissed and replaced by Lee Johnson.