As well as finding themselves once again in the race to secure promotion to the Championship, Sunderland are also currently on the lookout to hire a new permanent manager following the departure of Lee Johnson after the recent 6-0 battering against Bolton Wanderers.
With that in mind, it seems as though the Wearside club are in the process of potentially hiring one name in particular for the role.
What’s the talk?
In a recent Twitter interaction, journalist Alan Nixon revealed that Grant McCann is at the “interview stage” to potentially take the role of Sunderland manager.
With a total of 298 games under his belt as a manager with Peterborough United, Doncaster Rovers and most recently, Hull City, the 41-year-old certainly has enough experience under his belt to make him a viable option for the Sunderland job.
If the club have interviewed him as Nixon suggested in his tweet, this shows that they believe could be a suitable candidate for the role as well.
Delight for fans
Seeing the club move so swiftly in terms of trying to appoint a new manager and getting McCann to the interview stage of the process should surely be big news for the fans. After all, the swift nature of the hiring process should delight supporters, especially if they manage to appoint the former Hull boss, or any other potential candidate before their next game against Doncaster at the weekend.
With 175 games managed in League One, the Northern Irishman certainly has sufficient knowledge of the third division and how to work in it, which would put him in a good place for the job at the Stadium of Light.
Would it be a smart move to appoint Grant McCann as Sunderland’s new manager?
Yes
No
If Sunderland see the 41-year-old as the best available option to take the team forward and potentially get them to the Championship, a division McCann also has experience of managing in, it would certainly make him a good long-term option for the Black Cats rather than just a stopgap until the end of the season.
It is vital Kyril Louis-Dreyfus thinks ahead to the future and in this particular candidate, he’d find someone suitable for not only steering them for the next six months but possibly over a period of a few years.
For the time being until a new manager is appointed and announced, the Sunderland players will have to make sure they do their job on the pitch, aiming to get positive results on the board so whoever comes in as the next permanent head coach is in with a fighting chance of securing promotion by the end of the campaign.
In other news: Exciting new name emerges in Sunderland manager search, he’s better than Roy Keane – opinion