Gossip over the weekend has linked Phil Parkinson with a move away from the Macron, as Sunderland show interest in our manager.
The reports came out of the press up in the North-East, while Ken Anderson has said any approach from the Black Cats would be unwelcome.
For all the debate about whether Parkinson is or isn’t the right man (if you read these ramblings regularly, you’ll know my position by now), it would be at best a gamble if the manager dropped a division to move to the Stadium of Light. No doubt Sunderland are a ‘big club,’ and with the Stewart Donald takeover set to be ratified by the EFL today, they’ll have an owner who isn’t absent. The gap in quality between League One and the Championship is sizable and Sunderland should really win promotion next season. And from there, they’re a club with the potential to progress.
On the other hand, the club has almost been cursed since Steve Bruce left in 2011. Managers have come and gone annually at best, and the one who seemed to have stopped the rot, Sam Allardyce, understandably took the England job when offered. Whoever goes in there faces a rebuilding job, as they try to shift a group of players have been there and done nothing for far too long.
The Mackems seem to be targeting a man who has been there and done that, with Chris Wilder a possibility if he were to leave Sheffield United.
But moving this back to Bolton, having spent two seasons getting into the second tier, it would be odd for someone to take a step down and potentially risk it all.