"You look at Will Still" - Stephen Warnock makes Sunderland manager claim | OneFootball

Former Liverpool, Aston Villa and England defender Stephen Warnock admits it is difficult to know who is the right fit for the Sunderland job.

The Black Cats made the controversial decision to sack Tony Mowbray in December despite sitting just outside the play-off places at the time, replacing him with Michael Beale, and it is fair to say the move did not work out.

Beale was an unpopular appointment among Sunderland supporters, and he was sacked in February after winning just four of his 12 games in charge, with Mike Dodds taking over as interim head coach until the end of the season.

Dodds enjoyed a strong spell as caretaker after Mowbray's exit, but he has found it much tougher this time around, winning only two of his 12 games in charge so far, drawing three and losing seven.

The Black Cats dropped down to 15th in the table after the 1-0 defeat at Watford on Saturday, and they end a disappointing season against Sheffield Wednesday at the Stadium of Light this weekend.

A host of names have been linked with the Sunderland job since Beale's departure, including Alex Neil, Marek Papszun, Paul Heckingbottom, Steve Cooper, Will Still, Roy Keane, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, Scott Parker, Danny Rohl and Jermain Defoe.

Journalist Alan Nixon claimed in March that Heckingbottom was the Black Cats' first choice, but there has been little progress since then, and the fact he would only be allowed to bring in one member of backroom staff is thought to be a potential stumbling block.

According to The Northern Echo, Sunderland are closely monitoring the situation of Sheffield Wednesday manager Rohl, who is set to hold talks with owner Dejphon Chansiri over his future in the coming weeks.

Stephen Warnock questions Sunderland budget amid manager search

Warnock says he can understand why some of the reported candidates would be on Sunderland's radar, but he believes it could be tough for the next manager to achieve success at the Stadium of Light, and he criticised the decision to sack Mowbray in December.

"I think the names that have been mentioned, you can understand," Warnock said to FLW via NewBettingSites.uk.

"Jermain Defoe is a little bit of an outsider because we haven't seen him managing.

"You look at Will Still, it's been impressive what he's done out in France.

"It's such a difficult one because there's high expectations at Sunderland, but is there a high budget to be able to achieve what they want to achieve? "If you look at other clubs, you can still put together a competitive squad and you can compete in the Championship, you've just got to start the season extremely well. "It's such a difficult one for Sunderland to get right, I still feel that it was a strange decision to get rid of Tony Mowbray because of his understanding of the Championship, and to move to the next level, I thought he'd be capable of doing that.

Kyril Louis-Dreyfus facing crucial Sunderland manager decision

After the failed Beale experiment, and the lengthy search for his successor, there is huge pressure on Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus to get this appointment right.

Heckingbottom would be a solid choice for the Black Cats having achieved promotion from the Championship with Sheffield United last season, while Rohl would be an exciting appointment after the outstanding job he has done at Wednesday.

There are other good candidates out there, including the likes of Still and Cooper, but an appointment does not seem to be imminent, which will be a concern for Sunderland supporters.

After an underwhelming campaign, it is essential that Louis-Dreyfus makes a decision as soon as possible to bring some positivity back to the club, particularly with uncertainty over the futures of key players such as Anthony Patterson, Jobe Bellingham and Jack Clarke.