Let's hope Cats stick with their man no matter what happens

SO, Regis Le Bris has his reward with a new three-year contract at Sunderland and rightly so.

- By CLIVE YOULTON

What a magnificent job he did last season in taking the club back to the Premier League in his first year in charge.

He is an astute head coach, forward thinker, innovator - right up there in the early mould of Arsene Wenger who came to the UK as an unknown and transformed English football with his revolutionary ideas.

Of course, Le Bris and the former Arsenal boss are incomparable right now but Le Bris has instilled those same kinds of ethics in his and the club's working practices at the Stadium of Light.

But - and of course there's a but.

The history of the Premier League is littered with managerial casualties who have not lasted more than three or four months based purely on results.

Even in recent times, Scott Parker (Bournemouth), Javi Gracia (Watford), Frank De Boer (Crystal Palace) and Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea) have all been sacked while only in their jobs a matter of days.