Jermain Defoe has made a brilliant joke about the current managerial vacancy at Sunderland.
Taking to X, the former striker said he was ‘ready’ to replace Tony Mowbray on Wearside.
Sunderland confirmed that the 60-year-old had been sacked last night, two days after the team managed to rescue a point against Millwall.
While Tony Mowbray had led the Black Cats to the Championship play-offs last season, he hadn’t been able to replicate their form this term and had endured eight defeats in their first 19 games.
After three games without a win, Mowbray was shown the exit door and the club are now on the hunt for a new manager.
Jermain Defoe has been quick to react to the news, but not in the way that you would expect.
The 41-year-old posted an old photo of himself dressed in a suit with a red and white tie, with the caption: “Old pic but ready for the job @SunderlandAFC”.
Sunderland are quite likely to be on the search for a young, exciting manager, though I’m not sure Defoe would be quite up to the task ahead of him!
Who should Sunderland look at?
The former Black Cat was a firm favourite during his first spell at the Stadium of Light in which he netted 34 goals in the Premier League. However, his return in League One saw him make seven appearances, before deciding he wanted to retire halfway through his contract.
There are probably plenty of managers of similar age to Defoe that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman are looking at though.
43-year-old Julien Sable is currently the assistant manager of Nice, working alongside Sunderland’s former target Francesco Farioli.
Many fans have also already mentioned John Eustace, who was unfairly sacked by Birmingham City in October.
Other names include Paul Heckingbottom, who has just been sacked by Sheffield United, and also Yokohama F. Marinos’ head coach Kevin Muscat.
I would like to hope we steer clear from managers such as Heckingbottom and Nathan Jones, as I really just can’t see them moving the club forward. We need someone fresh and exciting, and I definitely wouldn’t be opposed to bringing someone in from abroad.
I definitely trust the club to find someone though, given that Francesco Farioli is currently sat second in Ligue 1 with Nice.