Next Sunderland manager: Betting suspended on Gus Poyet after dramatic shift in odds

Former Black Cats boss Gus Poyet has seen his odds slashed to an incredibly short price of 1/10 with SkyBet, ahead of Danny Cowley (7/1) and Paul Cook (16/1).

Indeed, BetVictor have suspended their market on Poyet’s return.

Poyet, who left Sunderland in 2015, said he’d be open to a return one day.

Poyet was then appointed as Black Cats head coach in 2013, replacing firey Italian Paulo Di Canio.

His second game in charge, and first at the Stadium of Light, resulted in a 2-1 win against local rivals Newcastle United.

Poyet then took Sunderland to the League Cup final, with wins over Southampton, Chelsea and Manchester United, before a hard-fought loss to Manchester City at Wembley.

Incredibly, and despite looking dead and buried at the bottom of the Premier League table, Poyet managed to perform a ‘miracle’ dubbed the ‘Great Escape’ by Sunderland fans to keep the cub in the top flight at the end of the 2013-14 campaign.

Poyet was sacked the following season with Sunderland sitting 17th in the table.

Since then, Poyet has managed AEK Athens, Real Betis, Shanghai Shenhua and Bordeaux, never lasting more than 30 games at each.

Prior to Parkinson’s dismissal, he told the ‘Speaking Sunderland’ podcast: “Could I return? Yes, of course.”

“Because there are things that are still possible to change. It’s a different situation, but it’s something that…when you’ve been in a club and you’ve been so close to people and then everyone watches the series ‘Sunderland Til I Die’ and the first thing they do, is they call you and ask you (about it).

"You’ve been there, and it confirmed things you already told them because that’s what ‘Sunderland Til I Die’ does, confirms to people things I told them when I left Sunderland.

“It’s like, you want to go back because it’s typical South American passion, you know, the fans. So, that relationship we made with the fans, even if it didn’t finish in the best way, I am still thinking that it’s possible to do something important there."

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