In to the light: Former Real Madrid coach
Bernd Schuster has expressed an interest in taking charge of
Sunderland
Quinn recently expressed his delight at the high quality
of applications he has received since Keane left the club after a
disastrous run of form saw them slip in to the relegation
places.
And the true extent of the pulling power of the Premier League
has been evidenced by reports that former Inter Milan manager
Roberto Mancini and Dutch coach Leo Beenhakker, too, are candidates
for the role.
Caretaker manager Ricky Sbragia strengthened his claims to be
taken on permanently with an emphatic 4-0 victory for Sunderland
over fellow relegation candidates West Brom.
However, the former reserve team coach at Manchester United
remained sanguine about his prospects after a victory that elevated
Sunderland to 17th overnight. “If it’s there it’s there, Sbragia
said. “If it’s not it’s not.”
Schuster won the Spanish League title with Real in May after
succeeding England manager Fabio Capello at the Bernabeu in 2007.
The German also enjoyed success with Getafe, an unfashionable
Madrid-based club that he guided to a domestic cup final, as well
as having stints with Levante, Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine and FC
Cologne in his native Germany.
Sunderland majority shareholder Ellis Short said recently that
the club were determined to appoint a “world class” manager with
experience and reports of Mancini being in London to brush up on
his English have sparked suggestions that he is interested in the
position.
The 44-year-old Italian has been out of work since he was sacked
by Inter Milan after four years at the San Siro in which time he
claimed back-to-back Italian titles but was dismissed for a failure
to achieve in European competition.
The case of Beenhakker is being pushed by Sunderland’s
commercial director Chris Woerts who has been impressed with the
66-year-old.
Currently managing Poland, Beenhakker is viewed as the man to
bring harmony to a Sunderland dressing room that suffered the
tension of Keane’s intense personality and he is well known to
Kenwyne Jones, Dwight Yorke and Carlos Edwards, all of whom played
under Beenhakker when he was in charge of the Trinidad and Tobago
national team.
Sunderland are in no rush to make an appointment, particularly
after Sbragia has quickly proved himself a safe pair of hands, and
the roster of international names interested in the job will force
the club in to a period of consideration.
Other names that appear on a list that is anything but short
include Gerrard Houllier, Louis van Gaal, Martin Jol and former
West Ham United and Charlton manager Alan Curbishley.
