Sunderland sacked Michael Beale this week, and they may already have a dark horse to land the permanent job in the summer.
Sunderland sacked Beale after just 12 games, with four wins from those 12 and with Beale leaving the Black Cats in 10th place of the table, four points outside the top six.
But after Hull City’s win over Southampton last night, that gap has now opened up to seven points, leaving interim boss Mike Dodds with a huge uphill battle in the final 13 games of the season.
Dodds oversaw three games after Tony Mowbray’s exit and won two of them; beating West Brom and Leeds United before defeat vs Bristol City.
Now he has the chance to show the Sunderland owners what he can do, and journalist Phil Smith believes the 37-year-old could come into contention to land the permanent job in the summer.
Phil Smith thinks Mike Dodds could be a contender for Sunderland job
Dodds is a well-liked name among Sunderland fans and someone who is reportedly well-liked behind the scenes as well.
He joined Sunderland in 2021, initially as head of individual player development, but he’s since become an integral part of the backroom team, now being named interim boss for a third time.
And this interim spell will be his longest and perhaps his best chance to put his name forward to become the club’s next permanent manager.
Writing for Sunderland Echo, Smith said of Dodds’ chances:
“Dodds could undoubtedly come into contention. He is highly rated behind the scenes at Sunderland and in promoting him to Beale’s assistant, they made clear they see him as a future head coach at some stage. He almost landed a longer interim stint in December, but in the end Sunderland decided that they didn’t want to risk losing him in the long run should the short-term not go so well. Dodds’ feeling at the time was also that it might be a little soon.”
Dodds may not fit the profile, but he can get results
The Sunderland owners seem content on hiring a manager from overseas who’s young and ambitious and who can help Sunderland carry on with their vision.
In that sense, and given how Sunderland recruit players from across Europe and indeed the globe, the club has a very European feel about it, which is perhaps why they want a European boss to come in.
English coaches may be a lot more stern and perhaps old school. But Mowbray arguably fit into that category and he showed up Beale who’s meant to be the more modern and contemporary coach.
Where Dodds falls in that spectrum remains to be seen. But he could prove to be the best of both worlds having worked with Mowbray, but also being a more new school coach.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see how he and Sunderland fare, and going off his most recent results as interim boss, the Black Cats could do very well.
If that’s the case then Dodds will certainly come into the thinking at Sunderland, like Smith suggests.