Southend United manager Phil Brown says he has rejected an offer from Sunderland to become the club’s new assistant manager.
Brown was Sam Allardyce’s right-hand man at Bolton Wanderers and had been approached to reunite with his former boss with The Black Cats. However, he says he turned down the opportunity as he is keen to carry on as a first-team manager.
The former Hull City boss has had success at Southend too. He guided them to promotion to League One last season via the play-offs, and he says wants to carry on with the good work he’s done so far, although he did admit to giving serious consideration to a move to the North East club:
Brown, speaking to The Sunderland Echo, said:
The opportunity was put to me to go to Sunderland but, after talking with the chairman here, I’ve decided to stay at Southend. It was something I did think about for a couple of days and I was considering what would be best for me to do. But I still have ambitions I want to achieve at Southend and I also want to try and get to 1,000 games as a manager as well. That’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I’m not going to do it if I go and become an assistant somewhere.
Another man who has been linked with the assistant manager’s job at Sunderland is Blackpool manager Neil McDonald, who also worked under Allardyce during his spell at Bolton.
However, speaking at his press conference, the Blackpool boss said he has not been approached:
There’s been no contact from Sunderland. I’m happy to continue as Blackpool manager.
