With Sam Allardyce now the odds on favourite to be the new Sunderland manager, the Northern Echo and ChronicleLive website have reported that Allardyce would want his former assistant alongside him should Allardyce decide to join the Black Cats.
Current Blackpool boss Neil McDonald joined the Seasiders in June this year and despite his poor start to the season, he has won his last 3 games in charge.
Allardyce and McDonald have a good working relationship and should Sunderland appoint ‘Big Sam’, the ex West Ham boss would certainly want to persuade McDonald to join him on Wearside.
But would McDonald want to leave Blackpool?
It would certainly be a surprise to see the Pool boss vacate his position so early into his spell as manager and given his previous stated desire to turn the club’s fortunes around, it would be a strange move to see him return to an assistant position.
Though the opportunity to move back to the Premier League would surely be tempting to any coach, as would the chance to return to work with a good friend of his.
Despite this, it seems more likely at this point that McDonald would want to remain as manager of a club and not go back to being an assistant, but things can happen very quickly in football and a move certainly cannot be ruled out just yet.
And as we know, there is only so long managers can last in the Blackpool job before they get fed up. McDonald has already experienced problems with player recruitment and if he thinks he isn’t being given the tools to do his job properly, then he could depart.
Given previous managerial departures at Blackpool it’s only fair that fans are worried by an rumours concerning the current manager. You only have to cast your minds back a few years to the departure of Michael Appleton to see how quick and easy it can be for managers to leave.
McDonald seems to be making improvements to the team with every game. After a dreadful start that saw his side lose 4-0 to Walsall at home, winning the last 3 has been a huge achievment.
However, there is a long way to go yet and I for one hope he will stay in his current job and do his best to get Blackpool climbing the table.
