Could Sunderland’s relegation rivals tempt Harry Redknapp into taking Black Cats job?

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Harry Redknapp has not ruled himself out of the race for the Sunderland job despite their current position in the Championship.

While many Sunderland fans appeared to be pleased with the club’s decision to part company with Simon Grayson earlier this week, there is no question that it is going to be difficult for the Black Cats to make a better appointment given their plight after the last few years.

Unfortunately, Sunderland’s relegation from the Premier League appeared to be inevitable for a number of years before it finally happened, and things certainly do not look any brighter in the Championship with the team currently in the relegation zone and without a win since August.

Therefore, the person who succeeds Grayson at the Stadium of Light will arguably be a brave person as it appears that what should be one of the more appealing jobs in English football has few selling points right now.

Harry Redknapp appears to be interested in considering the role, with the former West Ham and Tottenham boss certainly not ruling it out when talking to The Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast on talkSPORT (broadcast on 2nd November 2017) earlier today (read his comments here).

Some may be questioning why Redknapp would want the role when it appears to almost be a poisoned chalice right now. And while the chance to lead a big club back to where it should be may hold the most appeal for the 70-year-old, the current state of the Championship table has surely not escaped his attention.

Sunderland are the team immediately below the drop zone in the second tier, and the team immediately above the bottom three is Birmingham City – the team Redknapp was sacked by back in September.

Redknapp would certainly argue that he was not given enough of a chance to turn things around given the number of signings he made, and thus, perhaps proving a point to the Blues hierarchy may be a factor if he indeed does want the Sunderland job.

If he did take the job and managed to keep Sunderland up – perhaps at the Blues’ expense – that would surely prove to Birmingham that he deserved more time. But, as things stand, it would arguably take Redknapp to go into full Houdini mode to pull off the escape.