Sam Allardyce set to replace Dick Advocaat at struggling Sunderland

Sam Allardyce is the favourite to replace Dick Advocaat at Sunderland

SAM ALLARDYCE is now the favourite to replace Dick Advocaat as Sunderland manager after the Dutchman says he quit because the players were "simply not good enough" to avoid the drop - and he was not up to the job.

In his first interview since returning to Holland after Saturday's 2-2 draw with West Ham, Advocaat admitted he had no stomach for the survival fight that lies ahead.

"The struggle against relegation is not my cup of tea," said the 68-year-old. "It was time for someone else to take over. I became negative and that didn't feel like myself.

"I don't regret signing my new contract because it was a great experience but our squad was simply not good enough. The club knew we had to strengthen ourselves, but the chairman [Ellis Short] never told me how much we could spend.

“Sunderland is in my view a very beautiful club. What I have seen no one can take away from me and I would not have missed this for anything.

 

“Even on Saturday, there were three or four loud chants for me. The fans supported me until the last day, although they did not know I was leaving.”

Allardyce, out of a job since quitting West Ham in May, is the overwhelming fans favourite to succeed Advocaat. A local poll revealed 75 per cent of supporters want Allardyce to take over despite him having managed rivals Newcastle in the past.

Short and director of football Lee Congerton, who is staying on despite serving his own notice last week, have drawn up a shortlist of candidates. But Sunderland's perilous position at the foot of the table and the club's reputation for hiring and firing managers with indecent haste has made the job something of a poisoned chalice.

Sean Dyche, who came close to taking it in the summer, is highly regarded in the boardroom but the 44-year-old has misgivings about leaving Championship side Burnley for the Black Cats given their respective league positions.

 

Allardyce, who played for the club in the early 1980s, has already indicated he is not keen on the Sunderland job right now - but there is a clamour among fans for the club to do everything in their powers to persuade a man who has never been relegated as a manager to change his mind.

The Black Cats are bookies' favourites for the drop but, despite throwing away a two-goal lead on Saturday to miss out on a first Premier League win this season, the performance suggests it is not all doom and gloom.

Nevertheless, Short is paying the price for the lack of stability in recent years. Steve Bruce, now at Hull, is the last Sunderland manager to be in charge for an entire season, a terrible indictment of the hierarchy's decision making.

Since he was sacked in November 2011, Martin O'Neill, Paolo Di Canio, Gus Poyet and now Advocaat have been and gone.

 

Dick Advocaat left Sunderland on Sunday

And while the club remains one of the best supported in the land, has a 48,000 capacity stadium and state-of-the art training facilities, its reputation has taken a bashing with all the comings and goings.

Sunderland legend Jimmy Montgomery believes whoever does come in needs to be British.

"The three names who would do a good job are Sam Allardyce, Sean Dyche and Nigel Pearson," he said. "We have to go British this time.

"It's a matter of looking at who can take the club forward and keep us in this division because relegation would be unthinkable."