With the hunt well underway to find Dick Advocaat’s successor during the International break, another manager has thrown his hat into the ring to become the fifth permanent manager at Sunderland since Steve Bruce left in 2011.
According to Peter Edwards of the Express, ex USA manager Bob Bradley has let it be known to the Sunderland hierarchy that he would be interested in taking over at the Stadium of Light. It’s not the first time Bradley has been linked to a Premier League job, after impressing during his time as manager of the USA and Egypt.
It is believed that ex-West Ham manager Sam Allardyce along with ex-Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson and Burnley manager Sean Dyche have distanced themselves from the Wearside hot seat, possibly considering it a poisoned considering the manager turnover during recent times.
With a dwindling list of potential managers, Bradley could find himself in serious consideration for the Sunderland job with his time at Norwegian club side Stabeak, who are currently involved in a title race after winning promotion only a couple of seasons ago.
And Stabaek chief executive Lars Hjorth has said the club will not stand in Bob Bradley’s way if Sunderland come calling.
“Bob is allowed to speak with anybody if he wants. That is the contract he made with us when he came to Stabaek,” Hjorth told Talksport
“Bob has done a tremendous job here, he is a fantastic person, and if he can make the step up in his career we would wish him luck.
“We haven’t had an approach yet but if Bob got an offer from a club in the Premier League, we would be very happy for him.
“I know that one of his biggest wishes is to train a club in the Premier League so if he gets an offer, we will wish him good luck, and we will be very proud as a small club in Norway to give him the chance to do that.”
Whoever is put in charge at the Stadium Of Light, they will find themselves at the helm of a club in total disarray. Sporting director Lee Congleton left the club last week, whilst the current Premier League season has seen Sunderland lose every single game apart from two draws.
They will also inherit a squad lacking in quality and balance, with recent summer transfer window’s seemingly adopting more of a scatter gun approach with a lack of direction in what type of player the club are wanting to sign as well as signing players who are just not good enough for a team wanting to stay in the Premier League.
But the most important thing for any potential new manager, is to get Sunderland winning again and the first game after the international break is against Newcastle, a team who have a habit of losing games against Sunderland when they have a new manager.
