A huge update on Sunderland’s search for a new manager has been issued, with an appointment expected very soon.
Sunderland have had a very long season, with the relationship between manager and fans looking extremely strained since Tony Mowbray was sacked in December.
Supporters were angered by the decision to replace him with Michael Beale and were proven correct when he managed to win four of his 12 games in charge.
While the Sunderland faithful had appreciated Mike Dodds‘ previous stint at the helm, he has really struggled to improve the team’s form at all, and now everyone is impatiently waiting for the season to come to an end.
The conversation on everyone’s lips since Dodds’ temporary appointment, has been who will take the reins this summer.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman will have had months to find a suitable replacement, but there appears to have been very little movement on taking the steps needed to appoint someone in the coming weeks.
Sunderland could have a new head coach in the coming weeks
However, The Northern Echo have now reported that the club intend to make an appointment in the ‘immediate aftermath’ of this weekend’s clash with Sheffield Wednesday.
The report claims that the club have spent the last couple of weeks ‘firming up their plans’ and they are now ‘confident’ they will be able to move quickly once the campaign finishes.
There has been a number of names floating around in recent months, and it now looks like it may have been whittled down to three coaches.
Reports in Germany have linked Bayern Munich U19s boss Rene Maric with a move to Wearside, and it is now believed that there has been ‘contact’ between Sunderland and the Bundesliga outfit.
The 31-year-old has worked an assistant manager for RB Salzburg, Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund and Leeds United, before he was appointed as head coach of Bayern’s U19s just two months ago.
The report claims Sunderland are also still considering Paul Heckingbottom, who has been out of work since he was sacked by Sheffield United in December.
Danny Rohl also remains on the shortlist, who is on the verge of keeping Sheffield Wednesday up if they can avoid defeat on Wearside this week.
Who would be the best choice for the Black Cats?
The rumours around Rene Maric are very recent and there is not a great deal known about him, but it could be a very interesting appointment that could follow the success of Rohl at Hillsborough.
Rohl also spent time with Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig and the German national team before taking up his first role in senior management in October, where he has been highly successful.
Maric could potentially follow in his footsteps, while Rohl himself seems like an even better option, but one that may be more difficult to get over the line – especially if Wednesday stay up.
Heckingbottom feels like the more safe option, but his arrival would be rather confusing given that we could have appointed him back when we sacked Michael Beale if he was always going to be our main target.
It’s an appointment that the club desperately need to get right if we are to undo our mistakes, but all three of those names fill me with a lot more hope than what Beale did.