Former Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn has urged owner Ellis Short to appoint an experienced manager with charisma rather than a journeyman. He told talkSPORT: "Sunderland need someone to galvanise the dressing room.

"They need someone for the senior players to really buy into and show the younger players how it's done. They need someone charismatic to do that, someone who gives them a lift.

"They don't need someone who is going to go out and say, 'I'm in a hopeless situation here, these players are no good'. Sometimes managers try and buy themselves a bit of time by saying they have got a really tough job.

"They need a manager who believes in them, not someone who's going to do this because it's a journeyman type job, but someone who's going to roll their sleeves up, be charismatic and say, 'We're still fighting'."