Paul Hurst is reportedly interested in taking over at Sunderland after remarkably guiding Shrewsbury Town to the League One summit.
A fortnight after the sacking of Simon Grayson, it appears that Sunderland are no closer to hiring a new manager.
Ally McCoist’s name continues to be bandied about in the media, perhaps due to his close relations with chief executive Martin Bain and the fact he is a free agent, meaning Sunderland could hire him without being forced to be a compensation fee.
Per the Yorkshire Post, proven Championship managers Aitor Karanka (below) and Paul Heckingbottom appear to be higher on Sunderland’s hitlist, however, with the club in need of a specialist as they sit bottom of the Championship with one win all season.
And despite Sky Sports reporting that highly-rated Shrewsbury Town boss Paul Hurst was interested in taking over at the Stadium of Light, all the signs are pointing towards Sunderland looking elsewhere.
Hurst has done a sensational job with third tier The Shrews since taking over last year. After saving them from relegation in 2016/17, the 43-year-old has guided the pre-season relegation favourites to the top of League One.
As reported by the Shropshire Times, however, Hurst has now dropped the clearest hint that he will remain with Shrewsbury for the time being – by drawing up a list of January transfer targets for his third-tier pacesetters.
“We are trying to get options to strengthen the squad,” he said.
“It’s just a case of getting out to watch games. We are trying to compile a list. We had a meeting to go through preferred options.”
It appears that Hurst will have to wait for his opportunity at a higher level. On retrospect, however, a young, promising manager whose reputation has sky rocketed in the last 12 months is perhaps better off avoiding the crisis-ridden basket case that is Sunderland.
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