Sunderland podcasters Rory Fallow, Craig Clark, James Reay and Micky Lough reacted to Phil Parkinson’s sacking on the latest edition of the Wise Men Say podcast and they spent some time talking about the possibility of Paul Cook, who most recently managed Wigan Athletic, taking the reins at the Stadium of Light.
Cook is currently without a club and has been since leaving Wigan back in the summer after the Latics were relegated from the second tier at the end of the 2020/21 campaign following the 12-point deduction that they were given after entering into administration.
Concerning the possibility of the unemployed manager succeeding Parkinson as Black Cats boss, here is what Clark had to say during this podcast:
“I actually think Paul Cook would be a good appointment. There [are] two big reasons for that – Will Grigg and Max Power – [he] won promotion with them twice.
“I don’t know where it’s come from when people talk about him, this idea that [people] don’t know about his management style or people are put off by him, if you want to get out of the division, he’ll do it.
“While he’s getting you out of the division, which is the absolute priority, if the new ownership comes into place, if the takeover happens, if things start moving in the right direction – get the stuff sorted behind the scenes, you’re under no obligation to stick with him next season if you do get promoted.
“Once you’ve got everything set up behind the scenes, then you can move on and start thinking about the next manager who’s the person you want to do it for the next five years, say.”
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TIF Thoughts on what Clark had to say about Cook potentially becoming Sunderland manager…
As Clark alluded to, current Sunderland duo Grigg and Power have previously played under Cook.
Both men are ex-Wigan players and they worked under the 53-year-old when he guided the Latics to promotion from League One to the Championship back in the 2017/18 campaign.
Grigg was Wigan’s top league goalscorer that season, with the Northern Irishman netting on 19 occasions in League One during the 2017/18 campaign, while Power was Wigan’s second-highest assist provider in the third tier, with the midfielder making eight assists in the league that season, just one less than the Latics’ top assist provider during the 2017/18 campaign.
So, with that in mind, perhaps it would be a wise decision for the Black Cats to approach Cook about becoming their new manager. If the English coach is confident that he would be able to recreate the success he enjoyed at the DW Stadium with Grigg and Power, then maybe Cook and Sunderland would be a good fit for one another at present.