Phil Parkinson reveals his plans to replace John Potter at Sunderland

The Black Cats’ first team coach departed earlier this week for Hibernian, where he teamed up with former Sunderland boss Jack Ross.

And while Parkinson has already strengthened his backroom staff since his arrival - with assistant Steve Parkin, goalkeeping coach Lee Butler and fitness specialist Nick Allamby all heading to the Academy of Light - he hasn’t ruled out further additions to his coaching staff.

Any potential new faces, however, are likely to arrive in the long-term.

“At the moment we’re just getting these two games out the way,” explained Parkinson.

“John - when the jobs became available we thought he may well go with Jack if he got one of the big Edinburgh jobs.

“But it wasn’t until Monday that got confirmed.”