Five exciting managers that could take the Sunderland job
Sunderland will search for a new head coach this summer and here are five potential candidates to take over at the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland has had a poor season compared to last season. After Tony Mowbray was sacked, the wheels at Sunderland fell off and their season seemed dead and buried after Michael Beale’s stint.
These five managers could potentially succeed at Sunderland.
- Will Still
If you haven’t heard of Will Still, then you have been living under a rock. He is a young manager from Belgium and has been fantastic at Stade Reims. Still is 31, and speaks perfect English and French, this would be a fantastic addition as the Sunderland squad is the youngest on average at 23.4 years and has an influx of French players.
A major factor in hiring Beale was the factor of not paying any compensation, due to him not being at a club after his dismissal at Rangers. Recently, Still left Reims, meaning Sunderland wouldn’t have to pay anything to get him in.
His record in France has been impressive. Initially, he was caretaker manager for five games when Oscar Garcia was sacked in October 2022, in that time he was undefeated. He then was given the role permanently and went undefeated for 19 games.
2. Steve Cooper
Arguably, the most experienced manager on this list. Steve Cooper has been without a club since December after his dismissal at Nottingham Forest. During his time in the East Midlands, he took a team from the bottom of the Championship to fourth place and eventually got promoted to the Premier League via the Playoffs. In that season in the Championship, they also went on an FA Cup run beating Arsenal along the way.
There are a lot of similarities between the Forest team and the current Sunderland team. In terms of being clubs who haven’t had much luck in recent times and look to be struggling. Similarly to Will Still, Cooper is without a club so there would be no compensation fee.
Cooper has experience with young players too, as he had a young squad when he was manager of Swansea, and he is also the former Liverpool academy coach that brought the likes of Raheem Sterling through.
3. Frank Lampard
Lampard’s first adventure into management was at Derby County and in that season, they reached the Playoff Final, so he knows the League. He then went on to manage his beloved Chelsea and in the first season, it could be considered successful. His Chelsea finished in a Champions League spot, reached an FA Cup final and this was done with a transfer ban.
Similarly to Sunderland, Lampard had to rely on youth academy players, obviously there is a massive difference between Chelsea and Sunderland’s academy but there has been some promising talent coming through Sunderland.
Hypothetically, if Lampard was successful in getting Sunderland promoted, he would have experienced relegation battles during his time at Everton. He kept the Toffees up on the second last game of the season and it was like a party inside Goodison Park demonstrating the togetherness between the players and supporters.
4. Roy Keane
It seems like every time Sunderland needs a new gaffer, Roy Keane always gets linked to the job and it’s purely due to nostalgia purposes. Keane managed Sunderland between 2006-08.
During his time at Sunderland, Keane helped Sunderland win the Championship in 2007. He resigned himself in 2008 when it was reported that there was tension between him and the players, the owners and fellow Irishman Niall Quinn.
The main similarity between this current squad and the Sunderland team that Keane has taken over was the poor position in the League. Keane turned their fortune around by winning the League, and Sunderland fans hope he can do it again.
5. John Terry
The most inexperienced manager on the list is John Terry, who has never been a first-team manager. He mentioned on the Up-Front Podcast with Simon Jordan, that he had a positive meeting with them following Lee Johnson’s sacking in 2022 and he believed that the job was his, however they eventually went with Alex Niel.
Going with Terry would be a massive risk but it’s undeniable that he has leadership qualities after he captained Chelsea for a long period and won every single trophy along the way.
He has experience in coaching; he was Dean Smith’s assistant at Aston Villa and Leicester City, and he is also an academy coach at Chelsea.
