Monday 21 May 2018 22:13, UK
Chris Coleman could be in line for a shock return as Sunderland manager, according to the club's new owner Stewart Donald.
The former Wales boss left Sunderland last month following their relegation to League One.
However, Donald, who has just completed a £40m takeover of Sunderland from Ellis Short, says he would be willing to speak to Coleman about returning to the role.
"It wasn't us (who sacked Coleman), and I wouldn't rule out potentially talking to Chris. From a fan perspective, Chris is obviously the visual one," said Donald.
"What Ellis Short has done through this whole process is he has tidied up the business as best he can to reduce the liabilities moving forward.
"He has decided that Chris is one of those, and that is up to him. That's absolutely nothing to do with us, and we wouldn't necessarily exclude Chris from the process of arranging a new manager.
"We've looked at the list of people who have applied, and you say you want to speak to three or four people, I think Chris would potentially be in those three or four.
"There hasn't been any contact, but we haven't been able to do anything up to now."
Regardless of whether Coleman is the man chosen to lead Sunderland in League One next season, Donald wants a new manager in place by the end of the week.
When asked for a timeframe, Donald said: "As soon as possible I would hope.
"We're going to start going through that process and I would think seven days maximum before we've got a new manager.
"We've got to move because we need the manager to have as much of the summer as possible to assemble the squad and assess what he's got.
"I would be very surprised if by the weekend we're not able to tell you who that would be."
