Sunderland have now been without a manager since Monday, with a Championship clash against West Brom coming up on Saturday.
Sunderland parted ways with Tony Mowbray on Monday, and since, their managerial search has ramped up.
Several names are being linked to the Stadium of Light with European coaches starting to dominate the market.
Will Still and Julien Sable are being mentioned more than most, but names such as Kieran McKenna continue to be speculated.
And with a tough Championship game now just around the corner, fans are starting to wonder where the club is at in their search for a new boss.
Michael Graham urges Sunderland fans to have patience
The Black Cats found a quickfire appointment in Mowbray before.
He was out of work and came in pretty soon after Alex Neil left. But this time round, with the Sunderland owners looking to appointment a long-term boss and truly lay out their vision for the future, another quickfire appointment doesn’t seem likely.
Journalist Michael Graham commented on the matter, posting on X:
How long is too long, though?
Graham’s comments are fair; Sunderland have a hugely pivotal appointment to make and it’ll be one they’ll want to stick by for as long as possible, so it’ll inevitably take a longer time to make this appointment.
The club will be overrun with applications and there’ll be a whole lot of research and due diligence to be done so that, when they do make an appointment, they’re confident that it’s the right one.
But with Sunderland still in the race for top-six and with the January transfer window around the corner, there’s a slight sense of urgency here.
The club’s recruitment team will no doubt oversee transfers anyway, but the club will surely be keen for the next boss to have worked with any new signings for a while before delving into the second half of the season.
It’s a huge second half of the campaign for Sunderland and if they want to challenge for top six, they need to be as settled as possible.
Whilst patience is needed, Sunderland still need to move swiftly in their search for Mowbray’s successor.
Sunderland vs West Brom kicks off at 12:30pm on Saturday.