Sunderland have spoken to former Celtic boss Neil Lennon about becoming their new manager having missed out on bringing back Roy Keane.
That’s according to the Daily Mail, who claim that Keane has decided to pull out of the race to become the new Sunderland boss.
Keane had been in talks over a stunning return to Sunderland having left the club way back in 2008, but talks have broken down.
That means Sunderland are looking towards other managers with former Preston boss Alex Neil emerging as the favourite for the job.
With Keane’s snub fresh in the memory, Sunderland would be wise to have other managers lined up just in case – and Lennon is a candidate.
It’s claimed that Lennon has applied for the job and has been spoken to by Sunderland about potentially taking over.
Lennon has been out of management since leaving Celtic in February 2021, working mostly as a pundit since then.
Lennon’s second spell in charge of Celtic wasn’t quite as impressive as his first – even if the win rates are pretty much the same.
The Northern Irishman’s second spell completely unravelled last season, with Celtic falling apart and losing the title to Rangers.
Lennon suffered a number of dismal results along the way, and there haven’t been many rumours about him returning to management since then.
With five league titles as Celtic boss, Lennon clearly did some things right at Celtic and his poor record at Bolton Wanderers may be down to their torrid financial situation at the time.
Keane and Lennon actually know each other having played together for Celtic during the 2005-06 season – a formidable and somewhat terrifying midfield duo for any team in Scotland at the time.
Keane may not have fancied the Sunderland job, but Lennon could be one of their top fallback options in the coming days.
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