Sunderland have thrown their full support behind manager Regis Le Bris, despite the club sitting at the foot of the Premier League table after a difficult opening to the season.

The Black Cats have managed only one win from their first nine league matches, most recently suffering a 3-1 defeat away to newly promoted Coventry. Yet the club's board remains committed to Le Bris, prioritising stability and collective responsibility as they work to reverse their fortunes.

Next up for Sunderland is a home fixture against Chelsea, who travel to the north-east the Sunday before the international break — a match that will carry significant weight given the team's current position.

A manager who has already transformed the club

Le Bris joined Sunderland from Lorient in 2024 and wasted no time making his mark. In his first campaign, he ended the club's eight-year wait for top-flight football by winning promotion back to the Premier League.

He then steered the side to a seventh-place finish the following season — a result that secured qualification for the Europa League for the first time in 53 years.

Sunderland have carried some of that European momentum into this season, collecting two wins and a draw from their Europa League league phase matches so far. They face Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb at home on Thursday.

The board's confidence in Le Bris appears rooted in that recent track record. Whether he can engineer a turnaround in the league before the pressure mounts further will be the defining challenge of his tenure so far.