Sunderland are on the lookout for a new manager following the sacking of Lee Johnson in the aftermath of the Black Cats humiliating 6-0 defeat to Bolton Wanderers at the weekend.
At present, the Stadium of Light club are third in the League One standings, just one point off the automatic promotion places having played four more matches than Wigan Athletic. Sunderland are also two points behind top of the table Rotherham United, but, the Millers have played two fewer games than the Black Cats.
Ex-Newcastle United forward Duncan Ferguson is one of the frontrunners for the job at the Stadium of Light following Frank Lampard’s imminent appointment as Everton manager.
Ferguson has been part of the Toffees’ first-team coaching staff since February 2014 and has even been the assistant manager to the likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Rafael Benitez which will have been beneficial experiences for the Scot who was actively known to have wanted the recent vacancy at Goodison Park.
During the 2019/20 season, Ferguson served Everton as an Interim Manager in between the sacking of Marco Silva up to the appointment of Ancelotti, managing one win and three draws in his four matches, managing to draw with Manchester United and beat Chelsea, the 50-year-old recently took charge of Everton’s 1-0 home loss to Aston Villa.
This would be a good job for Ferguson to get early on in his managerial career, as he could ultimately see himself have a shot at becoming a manager in the Championship if he gets good results at Sunderland.
Former Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy is also linked with a return to the job at the Stadium of Light.
The 62-year-old managed Sunderland between 2003 and 2006 and managed to earn promotion with the Black Cats back to the Premier League in the 2004/05 season and may feel as though he has some unfinished business having been a major part of the management that saw them finish on just 15 points in 2005/06.
Since his time on Wearside, McCarthy has had good spells at the likes of Wolverhampton Wanderers between 2006 and 2012, who he also managed to earn promotion to the Premier League with in the 2008/09 season, as well as having a solid spell at Portman Road with Ipswich Town that lasted six years following his arrival at the Tractory Boys in 2012.
McCarthy’s last job was as manager of Cardiff City where he won 14 of 38 matches in charge of the Bluebirds, resulting in him being sacked in late October last year.
Neil Lennon is also included on this list of managers that have been linked with the vacancy at the Stadium of Light.
The former Northern Ireland international has not managed a side since he left Celtic in February 2021 with his team faltering badly in their attempt to win a 10th Scottish Premiership title in a row.
As a manager, the 50-year-old has won five Scottish Premiership titles, as well as four Scottish Cups and one Scottish League Cup having managed the Celtic Park club between March 2010 and May 2014, as well as his most recent spell from February 2019 until February 2021.
Lennon also managed to earn Hibernian promotion back to the Scottish Premiership in the 2016/17 season and consolidated the Easter Road club’s place in the SPL. Prior to leaving Hibs in January 2019 by a mutual agreement, he had overseen his side finish fourth-place in 2017/18.
The former Celtic man could be a good candidate for the role at the Black Cats, as he has already managed sides that are expected to win their respective leagues at the first time of asking.
Recently sacked Hull City manager Grant McCann has emerged as a contender for the managers' job at Sunderland.
McCann was sacked by the Tigers on 25th January following a change in ownership of the club. The 41-year-old Northern Irishman had led Hull back to the Championship having won the League One title last season and arguably deserved to stay at the MKM Stadium under their new ownership.
Prior to his role at Hull, he had previously managed Peterborough United who he used to play for between 2010 and 2015, winning 41 of his 104 matches in charge of Posh from April 2016 up until February 2018. McCann impressed when he was in charge of Doncaster Rovers in the 2018/19 campaign, managing a 46% win rate, seeing him get the job at Hull.
Paul Cook has also been linked with a move to Sunderland having been sacked by Ipswich Town in December.
In his time as a manager, Cook helped lead Chesterfield to a League Two promotion in 2013/14 and the following year managed them to a sixth-placed finish in League One. Cook was also successful in his time as manager of Portsmouth having guided the Fratton Park club to the League Two title in 2016/17.
However, the club he most notably had success at is Wigan Athletic. In his time at the DW Stadium, he led the club back to the Championship in 2017/18 as well as managing a memorable FA Cup run in which they reached the quarter-finals after beating AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United and eventual Premier League champions Manchester City.
Cook left Wigan following their relegation back to League One in 2019/20, having seen his team deducted points late on in the season that plunged the Latics into a relegation battle.
The most recent role that Cook had was in charge of Ipswich Town between March 2021 and December 2021, however, following a high turnover of players due to the Portman Road club showing a desire to earn promotion, as well as poor results on the pitch, Cook left the Tractor Boys having been sacked.
