Sunderland are targeting Chelsea coach Anthony Barry, MK Dons boss Liam Manning and Tony Mowbray to replace Alex Neil, says Alan Nixon.
Neil looks set to swap Sunderland for Stoke City after a chaotic 48 hours has seen him first linked with Stoke City, then given permission to speak with the club, before pictures showed Neil at the Stoke v Blackburn Rovers game on Saturday.
And since, reports have revealed that ex-Rovers boss Tony Mowbray is set to take charge of Sunderland.
But Nixon has revealed on his Patreon account this morning that the Chelsea coach Barry and MK Dons boss Manning are both ‘rivals’ to Mowbray in the race to take on the Sunderland job.
Manning guided MK Dons to a 3rd place finish in League One last season. His side fell out of the playoff semi-finals at the hands of Wycombe Wanderers, before Manning was then linked with a number of jobs, including the QPR vacancy.
Barry meanwhile is Paul Cook’s former assistant manager at Wigan Athletic. He’s since spent time as a coach with the Republic of Ireland national side and is currently working with Chelsea, as well as the Belgian national side.
A huge blow…
Sunderland looked to have everything moving in the right direction under Neil. But his pending departure to Stoke City followed by another defeat in the Championship yesterday seems to put a halt on their progression.
The club needs another similar manager in place and both Barry and Manning could be favourable options, with Barry having of course gained a great footballing knowledge through his various coaching roles, and Manning too.
Manning though has recently proved his worth in the Football League and so he might be a preferred candidate among fans, but whether he’d leave MK Dons remains to be seen, after he stuck with the club throughout this summer.
Sunderland return to action v Rotherham United in midweek.
