Tony Mowbray may have already found himself a new job.
The 60-year-old was sacked by Sunderland only last week, months after guiding them to the Championship play-offs.
Tony Mowbray arrived on Wearside in August 2022 and did an excellent job in his first campaign, before Sunderland were beaten by Luton Town in the play-off semi-finals.
However, his second term hadn’t gone as planned, with the Black Cats losing eight of their first 19 games.
Mowbray was dismissed following a 1-1 draw with Millwall and could now potentially find himself a new job before Sunderland have even appointed his replacement.
According to Sky Sports journalist Rob Dorsett, Mowbray is now a ‘leading candidate’ to join Stoke City.
Dorsett wrote: “Former #bcfc manager John Eustace and ex #sunderland and #wbafc boss Tony Mowbray are among the leading candidates to take over at #scfc, I’m told. Ex #Fulham Slavisa Jakanovic is also on shortlist -though still lots of names in frame, as club determined to do exhaustive search.”
Stoke City parted ways with former Sunderland coach Alex Neil less than a week after Mowbray left Wearside.
The Potters now sit 19th in the Championship table, only two points above the relegation zone.
Could Tony Mowbray succeed at Stoke?
It’s unclear whether Mowbray is eager to dive straight back into management though and he could be eager to wait until the new year to consider his options.
The former Black Cats man is certainly a good option for any Championship club after the success he had with us, though I imagine he will want some more freedom in the transfer market after being left frustrated at the Stadium of Light.
Though Alex Neil did suggest the same thing when he went to the bet365 Stadium. He went onto spend millions on the likes of Wouter Burger, Ben Pearson and Joon-ho Bae, only to end up fighting relegation.
It will be a strange one for Sunderland fans if he does go to Stoke though. Most of us have spent the past year or so quietly hoping the Potters would go down under Alex Neil, but it would be hard not to cheer them on if Mowbray was appointed.
You can almost guarantee we would lose to them when we host them next month though – just like the 5-1 battering we took earlier this year. But when we’re not up against him, there’s no doubt that every Sunderland fan will be wishing him well.