Managerial graveyard – or chance to revive a sleeping giant?
Sunderland has ruined the careers of too many football coaches, and the mood of many Wearside fans, in recent years.
David Moyes, Simon Grayson, Chris Coleman and now Jack Ross, the most recent incumbents who succeeded elsewhere, but couldn’t bring magic back to the North East.
Yet there remains a queue of candidates keen to lead a team out at the Stadium of Light in front of remarkably enduring League One crowds of 29,000... plus 20,000 empty seats to fill.
It will take a brave manager to take the hot seat at Sunderland – whether that be favourite Gareth Ainsworth, Paul Cook, Daniel Stendel or the emotional choice, former strike legend Kevin Phillips.
No matter how the club have mangled their status as a Premier League giant and tumbled to League One, there is always an upstart convinced they can spark it to life, against the odds.
Way too many Sunderland signings of late have been unadventurous, low-key, lacking adventure... and on the field lacking athleticism and pace. The last thing the club need now is a pedestrian appointment in the dug-out.
Ross, sacked this week, was a steadying hand, stopping the freefall and implanting some sturdy values, but couldn’t find the sparkle to turn draws (19 of them last season in the league) into wins.
They need someone with cheek, personality, infectious belief and belligerent, steely personality to get the job done.
Club history gives the struggling current owners a blueprint. Peter Reid was back on Wearside this week for an FWA tribute dinner.
“When I first got to Sunderland, it was at Roker Park with Charlie Hurley (a basic training ground),” he said. “It was fourth from bottom of the Championship, the old First Division, and when I left I was fourth from bottom of the Premier League (following two seventh-placed finishes), a new stadium, new training ground, so I left it in good shape.
“At the moment, let’s just say it’s not great.
“It’s a massive club. If you get it right, revive it, everything – results, crowds – the momentum snowballs.”
And that remains the allure of the Sunderland hot-seat.