Sky Bet has made Kevin Phillips as the favourite to become the next manager of Sunderland. He is available at 6/4 following a flurry of betting activity over the last 24 hours. He is currently the first team coach at Championship rivals Derby County.
The Sunderland Echo believes that Phillips is looking to get into football management as a number one at some stage. Although he is yet to hold a coaching role higher than the one he currently has, he is clearly still well-regarded in the North East with the Mackems supporters.
After being available at 25/1 at some stage, he was immediately backed into 6/4. This sizeable shift appears quite noteworthy and it now remains to be seen what will come of it. The 43-year-old has been coaching at Pride Park since September 2015. He helped Sunderland win promotion out of the Championship in 1999, thanks to his partnership alongside Niall Quinn up front, netting many goals in the process. That would continue into the Premier League, where Super Kev earned the European & Premier League Golden Boot, as well as Player of the Season awards.
The Black Cats are looking for a permanent successor to David Moyes, who resigned three weeks ago following talks with Ellis Short. Since then, a handful of names have been heavily linked to the vacancy. Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has been the subject of most of those rumours, but Preston North End’s Simon Grayson has received plenty of support too. Garry Monk appears to be attracting the interest of all managerless clubs this summer too.