One manager has now ruled himself out of the running for the Sunderland job.
It has now been 10 days since Tony Mowbray was sacked following a run of two wins in nine games.
Sunderland have been linked with a long list of managers across Europe, with even the likes of Scott Brown and Paul Heckingbottom being mentioned.
However, the Black Cats appeared to have narrowed it down to just a few candidates in recent days.
Kim Hellberg was the first name to be mentioned in talks with Sunderland, with the 35-year-old confirming he was leaving Swedish club IFK Varnamo after guiding them to fifth place in Allsvenskan.
Hellberg looked to be a hot favourite to take the reins on Wearside, however things went quiet after discussions with Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.
Yesterday welcomed fresh reports that Hellberg would join Hammarby instead of Sunderland and the coach has now confirmed that he won’t be replacing Tony Mowbray in the Championship.
Speaking to Swedish outlet fotbollskanalen this week, Hellberg said: “Again, we come to the scouting and that Sunderland have come across my name and that there has been contact and meetings. I hardly know how close it has been, but there have been meetings and it’s been fun and interesting to have been part of the process.
“As I understand it, they were down to one or two candidates to choose from. It was getting close. It feels like I was there for quite a while, but it will be someone else who manages that club.
“But it was a great experience to have been involved in the process, just as it has been to have met other clubs. It has been an educational period.”
Will Will Still still be the favourite?
With Kim Hellberg now out of the running, Will Still still looks to be the favourite.
Recent reports have claimed that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus have held ‘positive talks’ with the 31-year-old, while another stated that Still was ready to ‘pack his bags’ and move to Wearside.
While Mike Dodds has been doing a brilliant job as interim manager, it would still be nice for Sunderland to speed the process up a bit and bring Still on board.
The Reims coach would be an excellent addition and seems perfect to fit our model, though it certainly doesn’t seem as easy as we had hoped to bring him in.
It would be interesting to see who Sunderland’s back-up plan would be, as I imagine a lot of fans will be disappointed now if we don’t appoint Still.