White claims to have spoken to the prospective Sunderland owner, who already has ties to the Sheffield United manager.
Talksport host Jim White believes that Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder is high on Sunderland’s list of potential Chris Coleman replacements, following a conversation with prospective Mackems owner Stewart Donald.
Donald is said to have agreed a deal to purchase the relegated Championship club from Ellis Short, subject to Football League ratification.
And Wilder, who is among the bookies favourites to be Sunderland’s next boss, would be a logical target, as a former manager of Oxford United – the club supported, and previously invested in, by Donald.
Discussing his conversation with the former Eastleigh chairman – whom it is claimed is unable to speak in public with the deal at such a ‘sensitive stage’ – White said on Wednesday: “He (Donald) wants Sunderland fans to know that already he has put in place certain things which will end up being fantastic for the football club if this happens as he thinks it will, and all they are waiting for now is the thumbs up from the EFL.
“But what he did tell me was that the deal was confirmed, between Ellis Short and Stewart Donald, at 4:40 am on Sunday morning, after the two sets of solicitors agreed on the deal.
“The debt at the football club has been wiped out completely. Sunderland, from this point onwards, will be debt free. And going forward he has big plans for the club, of course reliant on the fact they come straight back up from League One.
“And with Chris Coleman gone – and he didn’t say this specifically, and he wouldn’t answer it specifically – but from what I gather from our conversation – and Sheffield United fans will not like this – high on the list of prospective next manager is Chris Wilder.
“So various plans are in place and the very same Mr Stewart Donald said : ‘You bet we have the financial wherewithal, nobody should doubt that.'”
Despite an impressive two years in charge of his boyhood Blades, Wilder’s comments in the wake of Saturday’s home defeat by Preston North End – in which he suggested that ongoing boardroom disharmony could cause him to quit Bramall Lane – should serve as encouragement to Donald.
Could Sunderland tempt Wilder away from Sheffield United?
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