Can you feel the rhythm ?

Martin O’Neill’s first game at Sunderland left a lasting image. A perfect snapshot of an excitable Northern Irishman jumping for joy at the start of a glorious new adventure.

But that’s all it was – a start.

What was most encouraging was that O’Neill seemed to feel the rhythm straight away. He got caught up in the atmosphere and his enthusiasm was absorbed and amplified by the crowd. That’s important, especially in the North East.

Football management is a desperately hard and unforgiving business at the best of times. Here in the North East we don’t do the best of times. By and large we live a silverware-free football existence. It’s other things that matter - other things that decide whether a manager will be successful.

So what is the magic formula ? How do you succeed in an area where success isn’t necessary, but failure is always just around the corner ?

There’s no simple answer. I haven’t got one anyway. The best I can come up with is this: To succeed as a football manager in the North East, you need to feel the rhythm.

I don’t mean a Niall Quinn’s Disco Pants kind of rhythm. I mean the rhythm, the mood, of your public. Understand what they want, what they expect, and you’re half way there. Of course you have to win some matches, preferably lots, and signing the odd superstar helps. But success in the North East isn’t measured by trophies in the cabinet. It isn’t measured by how much money you spend in the transfer market. It’s more to do with creating the right environment and setting the right tone. It’s about making the fans feel excited as they walk to the stadium. It’s about putting a team on the pitch that they can be proud of.

It isn’t easy. A host of big names have come, gone and missed the point spectacularly.

To make it even harder, expectations change and evolve over time. I don’t mean the Great Expectations argument – the trophies, Europe, Champions League, buy-me-a-new-striker argument. I don't even mean the Steve Bruce “3rd top ten finish in 50 years, what more do you want" argument. I mean as the North East changes, the desires of North East football fans change.

I'd guess in financially hard times like those we're living in now, the North East public might value a hard-working, whole-hearted approach from their team. The flaky millionaires may suddenly be less appealing.

It’s subtle stuff like that. Our best managers read the changing rhythms and change with them. But the rhythms change all the time.

To illustrate how hard it is, consider this - even Sir Bobby was sacked in the end.

That man felt the rhythm of the region as much as any manager ever has. Tony Mowbray is another who very successfully and genuinely taps into his past to understand the mood of the present.

But North East heritage or playing experience doesn’t guarantee success. It didn’t work for Bruce in the end, although he had his moments. Reputation certainly doesn’t guarantee success. For every Sir Bobby there was a Gullit. For every Keegan there was an Allardyce. For every Reid there was a Lawrie Mac. For every Mowbray there was a Strachan. We like our managerial messiahs up here, but they don’t come along often.

We’re doing alright at the moment though. Mowbray and Middlesbrough were made for each other. Alan Pardew feels the rhythm. He’s a very clever and resilient man – watch him conduct the home crowd when he knows the team and the stadium needs a lift. Martin O’Neill caught the rhythm of Sunderland on Sunday. There are no guarantees, because North East football fans are a complicated lot, but on first impressions, he looks like a man who’s ready to dance to our particular tune.