Once more into the mire for O’Shea at off-colour Black Cats

THERE have been plenty of fights to encounter for John O’Shea since Alex Ferguson held open the exit door at Old Trafford and ushered him towards Sunderland in summer 2011. The threat of relegation has been a nasty adjustment following his trophy-laden years at United but he must surely have been well used to it by the time the Black Cats survived by the skin of their teeth with an away draw at Arsenal last term. Been there, done it, had the high blood pressure. ‘Being involved in a relegation battle is extremely stressful. I am not going to lie about it,’ he said after his first in 2013. The revolving managerial door which appears to have been installed on Wearside over the past number of seasons has also caused chaos. None of the five permanent bosses (plus two different caretakers) have lasted a full campaign in charge and yet somehow they’ve avoided the drop. O’Shea, with 133 Premier League appearances out of a possible 153, has been one of the stalwarts. Now, after being dropped by manager Dick Advocaat for last weekend’s opener against Leicester City, he has another fight on his hands. Luckily for him, the 4-2 hammering and hapless display of the two men bought to replace him this summer may well force the Dutchman to return to his former skipper ahead of today’s visit of Norwich City. Sebastian Coates, 24, joined permanently after last season’s loan spell while £3million was shelled out on Younes Kaboul, 29. The 34-year-old will relish the challenge of dislodging at least one of the Twentysomethings. For the man who owns a horse with exinternational teammate Stephen Hunt, you wouldn’t bet against him doing so sooner rather than later. Not that O’Shea hasn’t been used to a bit of competition on Wearside. He was always a team player among the stars at Old Trafford, a utility man used to plug gaps across the back four and midfield, but at Sunderland he has been a bastion of consistency among a deluge of unpredictability. Thirty-two players have been signed since O’Shea and mistakes have been repeated. When Martin O’Neill took the reins from Bruce in November 2011 he guided them to 13th place. It remains O’Shea’s highest finish to date. The current Ireland manager almost completed a full term before Di Canio arrived in March 2013. They survived by three points and O’Shea (pictured) was adamant a repeat of the struggles wouldn’t follow. ‘The last five, six games, you are checking everyone else’s fixtures and who is playing who, what you think you are going to get and then seeing Wigan win game after game and think, surely they cannot do it? ‘That (scare) gave us the appetite in pre-season to make sure we get what we want out of it to stay away from the dogfight. If we are there again in April then we will look very silly. We have to be confident we can survive,’ he said then. Well, they were, and 2013/14 turned out to be almost a carbon copy of the year before. Di Canio sacked, Gus Poyet appointed, safety only survived in the final embers of the season thanks to wins against United, Chelsea, West Brom and a draw at Man City. That pattern was repeated last year as Poyet made way for Advocaat. He kept them up and has set about making his mark on the starting XI. If history is anything to go by, O’Shea will be last man standing.