Niall Quinn has urged Ellis Short to appoint a manager capable of “revolutionising” Sunderland and believes Sam Allardyce could fulfil that brief.
Short, the club’s owner, apparently favours Allardyce succeeding Dick Advocaat, who resigned on Sunday, but the former West Ham manager is believed to harbour mixed feelings about the job while his wage demands may deter the American financier.
While preliminary discussions with Allardyce’s camp have thrown up potential obstacles, other candidates, most notably Burnley’s Sean Dyche, are also under consideration.
As Sunderland’s former chairman and, before that, centre-forward, Quinn played a big part in selling the club to Short before stepping down in 2012. The Irishman is still a regular visitor to the Stadium of Light and has been dismayed by the team’s winless start to the Premier League.
“I think the same old, same old isn’t going to work,” Quinn said. “I think you need a manager to really change and revolutionise everything there. Big Sam might be radical in as much as he would totally change and revolutionise everything. Or if it was someone like Bob Bradley from America who hasn’t been in the Premier League before, he might do things different and that would get Sunderland going.”
While Bradley, the former USA coach, does not feature on a shortlist big on experience, there can be little doubt Sunderland’s squad require some form of shock therapy. Although Short would be willing to jettison his managerial structure featuring a director of football to accommodate Allardyce (something simplified by the fact Lee Congerton, the current incumbent, has resigned and is working out his notice), the former Sunderland centre-half would demand complete autonomy when it came to signing players.
Throw in an insistence on significant spending in January and a sizeable bonus for keeping the team in the Premier League and it is by no means certain that Allardyce will be the manager scheduled to be unveiled on Wearside next week.
This explains why Sunderland are looking at alternatives, Dyche included. However, the Burnley manager is said to be reluctant to leave Turf Moor for the Stadium of Light.
Nigel Pearson seems more enthusiastic but, despite being shortlisted, the former Leicester manager is not regarded as a serious contender by Short.
David Moyes may have been but the former Everton and Manchester United manager has told Sunderland he intends staying in Spain and overcoming his sticky patch with Real Sociedad.
