Sam Allardyce will attend tonight's Sunderland Under-21 match

The young Black Cats take on Darlington at the Northern Echo arena (kick-off 7.30pm).

Other members of his coaching staff, including Robbie Stockdale and Paul Bracewell, are also expected to attend to watch the Under-21s in their latest pre-season game.

As revealed by the Echo earlier today, Allardyce is also expected to take charge of Sunderland’s opening pre-season friendly tomorrow against Hartlepool United.

A week after he held talks over the England job, bookies favourite Allardyce remains in limbo, with the FA still interviewing candidates to succeed Roy Hodgson.

Since those discussions, Allardyce has returned to work at Sunderland and tried to keep business as usual, albeit the club’s transfer manoeuvres are inevitably being affected by the uncertainty over the managerial position.

However, Allardyce has been at the Academy of Light this morning to take charge of Sunderland’s training session after the Black Cats squad were handed a couple of days off following the return from their Austrian pre-season base.

And unless the England situation changes dramatically over the next 24 hours, Allardyce is due to be at Victoria Park tomorrow as Sunderland begin their friendly programme.

The Black Cats face League Two neighbours Hartlepool United, albeit there will be no new faces on show in red and white.