MARK HUGHES and Martin O’Neill top Sunderland’s shortlist as Ellis Short, the club’s chairman, strives to appoint Steve Bruce’s successor in time for Sunday’s game at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Bruce became the first Premier League managerial casualty of this season when Short sacked him yesterday afternoon, citing disappointing results.
Although Bruce’s assistant Eric Black has been placed in temporary charge, the club’s future appears likely to be shaped by either Hughes or O’Neill, both available after leaving Fulham and Aston Villa respectively.
Were Hughes to be appointed he would be the third successive former Manchester United player hired by a club at which Bruce succeeded Roy Keane.
The one-time Manchester City manager’s impressive previous work in building teams on modest budgets at Blackburn Rovers and Fulham has not gone unnoticed in Sunderland’s boardroom but there is also strong support for O’Neill.
Niall Quinn, the club’s former chairman who is now the overseas development director, has long been a fan of O’Neill and made an unsuccessful attempt to hire him before Keane took charge. Moreover O’Neill, the bookmakers’ favourite who enjoyed success with Leicester City and Celtic, is said to have been a boyhood Sunderland supporter.
Bruce, who signed 30 players during an eventful two and a half years on Wearside, leaves Sunderland two points above the relegation zone and has paid the price for wretched home form, the Wearsiders having won just twice at the Stadium of Light since New Year’s Day.
The final straw came with a 2-1 home defeat to struggling Wigan last Saturday when, turning mutinous, Sunderland supporters called for Bruce’s head. He immediately stressed he would not resign and received support from Quinn.
Although sacking Bruce, who signed a lucrative contract extension in February after he was briefly linked with the England job, will not have come cheap, Short eventually decided he had no alternative and, during a meeting with Bruce yesterday, told him he was not prepared to offer him the forthcoming games at Wolves and at home to Blackburn Rovers to try to turn things round.
“This has been a difficult time for everyone at Sunderland and is not a situation that any of us envisaged or expected to be in,” said Short. “It is my job as chairman to act in the best interests of our football club at all times and I can assure everyone that this is not a decision I have taken lightly. Sadly results this season have simply not been good enough and I feel the time is right to make a change.
“Steve has acted with honesty and integrity throughout, which is testament to the character and commitment he has shown during his time at Sunderland. I would like to personally place on record my thanks to him for his significant contribution to our football club over the past two and a half years and everyone here at Sunderland naturally wishes him the very best for the future.”
Short knew keeping Bruce would not only jeopardise ambitions for a top-10 finish but risk alienating crowds who have regularly dropped below 40,000 at the 49,000-capacity Stadium of Light.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)