The former Manchester United defender is one of the favourites to take over from the sacked Simon Grayson.
As The Chronicle reports, Sunderland defender John O’Shea is a leading contender to replace the sacked Simon Grayson as manager at the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats have slipped to bottom of the Championship after only one win from their first 16 games in charge.
O’Shea has yet to officially call time on his playing career and has no managerial experience, but that should not be the only concern about his potential appointment.
The Irishman’s deep Manchester United connections mean there is a risk that he could lead Sunderland to repeating previous mistakes they have made in the transfer market.
Sunderland badly needs to rediscover its own identity, rather than try to be a copycat of another team as some of their previous managers have attempted to make them.
When O’Shea was first brought to Sunderland, the first-team squad was full of ex-United players such as Wes Brown, Kieran Richardson, Phil Bardsley and Fraizer Campbell.
David Moyes tried the same trick of rebranding Sunderland as United 2.0 by signing Adnan Januzaj, Paddy McNair and Donald Love in his first transfer window as boss.
The rest of Moyes’s signings were players from his Everton days – Darron Gibson, Victor Anichebe, Steven Pienaar – who did little to renew enthusiasm around the club.
O’Shea’s United roots may seem exciting, but they are equally dangerous and Sunderland would be better off turning to a manager who can give the club the fresh start it needs.
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