Sheffield Wednesday rivals Sunderland to announce new manager today with former Norwich City boss ready to take over

The Black Cats have been without a permanent boss since Lee Johnson was sacked at the end of January after a 6-0 defeat to Bolton Wanderers, with Stadium of Light bosses getting increasingly worried about their promotion prospects.

Mike Dodds has been in interim charge since then but has resided over two further defeats to struggling Doncaster Rovers and Cheltenham.

Roy Keane had been heavily linked with returning to the job he had between 2006 and 2008 but revealed earier this week that an agreement couldn’t be reached between the two parties.

Former Hull City and Peterborough United manager Grant McCann has also been mentioned as a possible replacement for Johnson.

However, it would appear as though Alex Neil is the man set to be announced as the new manager, which is likely to be today, ahead of Sunderland’s League One match againt AFC Wimbledon at the weekend.

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Neil has been out of work since leaving Preston in March last year after almost four years in charge,

The Scot made his name at Hamilton before being taken down south by Norwich City in 2015 who, at the age of just 33, he led back into the Premier League via the play-offs before suffering relegation.

After being sacked by the Canaries in March 2017, he took charge of Preston a few months later.

Sunderland are currently in fourth place in the League One table but seventh-placed Wednesday are just two points behind them and with a match in hand.

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