Stewart Donald hopes to appoint new Sunderland manager 'within seven days'

Sunderland are currently managerless following the sacking of Chris Coleman by Ellis Short shortly before the takeover was first announced.

Donald, speaking at his unveiling at the Stadium of Light, revealed he hopes to appoint a new manager quickly in order to give them the best possible chance of helping the club bounce back from relegation to League One.

Donald, when asked about when he hoped to appoint a new manager, said: "Very soon I hope.

"We are obviously going to start looking through that process and we would hope seven days maximum, I would think before we have a new manager.

"We have to move quickly, we need the manager to have as much of the summer as possible to assemble the squad he has and assess what he has got.

"I would be very surprised if by the weekend we were not able to tell you who that would be."

Director Charlie Methven, who was sat alongside Donald, added: "You can have notional conversations with people but until you have taken the football club over they are notional conversations.

"Now the situation changes and Stewart will be in a position to have what I would call serious conversations with the candidates."

When asked about Chris Coleman's departure and what they had to do with it, Donald added: "Nothing at all, that was down to Ellis.

"Ellis' situation regards the business prior to us being involved is down to Ellis. He wanted to make sure the football club was tied up in loads of areas for us.

"It is only up until now that this is when you will see us take charge and the impact we have."

St Mirren boss Jack Ross has emerged as a leading contender for the vacant managerial position at Sunderland, as exclusively revealed by the Echo.

The 41-year-old was recently chosen as the PFA Scotland Manager of the Year after leading St Mirren to the Scottish Championship title. Ross took over the club during the previous campaign and steered them to safety before this season's emphatic success.

He has rejected interest from Dundee in the past. The new regime on Wearside had initially favoured a manager with strong football league experience but there is a growing belief that Ross could be an outstanding candidate.

The Black Cats are continuing to monitor Chris Wilder's situation at Sheffield United but there is confidence at Bramall Lane that he will sign a new contract to stay in charge of his boyhood club.

Wilder's record in the Football League is second to none but doubts over his future grew with the club's boardroom locked in dispute.

Alex Rae is also another name in the reckoning.