Sunderland legend Niall Quinn calls for a manager to 'revolutionise everything'

Former Sunderland striker and chairman Niall Quinn has urged club owner Ellis Short to hire a manager who can be ruthless at the Stadium of Light and not be content with the "same old, same old."

Dick Advocaat resigned from the role on Sunday with the side only 19th due to a better goal difference than arch-rival and bottom-placed Newcastle United. The front-runners to assume control on Wearside are Sam Allardyce, Nigel Pearson, Bob Bradley, and Sean Dyche.

The first in that list, a former Sunderland defender who has previously managed Newcastle as well as Bolton, Blackburn, and West Ham, is someone that Quinn believes would not be scared of shaking things up with a squad that appears to have lost its belief.

"I think the same old, same old, isn't going to work," Quinn told Louise Taylor of the Guardian. "I think you need a manager to really change and revolutionise everything there.

"Big Sam (Allardyce) might be radical in as much as he would totally change and revolutionise everything. Or if it was someone like Bob Bradley from America who hasn't been in the Premier League before, he might do things different and that would get Sunderland going."

Sunderland is currently in disarray, so it seems likely that the incoming manager will be promised transfer funds in the January transfer window to strengthen the squad. Relegation would be a catastrophe for the club after its huge outlay on players over the past few years, and with the huge television money coming in from Sky Sports, NBC, and BT.