The story of Mike Dodds' Sunderland rise explained and why he's a contender for the top job in future

It was no coincidence that when Michael Beale's initial appointment was confirmed, Sunderland made a point of highlighting that they were also promoting Mike Dodds.

In stepping up to the role of assistant head coach he was, as the club put it, 'taking the next step in his pathway'. Dodds, very clearly, was being marked out as a future head coach of the club. That trust and belief is one of the key reasons why Sunderland moved so quickly to change course on the back of consecutive Championship defeats.

That would have seemed hard for supporters to believe after those two defeats to Doncaster Rovers and Cheltenham Town, their first real introduction to Dodds following his arrival from Birmingham City. As he returned to the role following Tony Mowbray's departure, however, he made very clear that it would different this time around. Dodds admitted he had been 'naive' in some of his decisions during his first spell, essentially battling against the fact that his then role as head of player development in the academy meant he had no real relationships within the dressing room. His long stint on Alex Neil and then Mowbray's coaching staff changed that, with Dodds believing he now had the respect of the dressing room and therefore the conviction to do things his way. Dodds quickly won over the supporters with two excellent wins against West Brom and Leeds United, the first featuring an excellent choice to push Jobe Bellingham up front and the second a perfectly executed but significantly tweaked game plan to counter the obvious threats at hand.

His brief tenure ended with a frustrating defeat at Bristol City, a performance which reflected the inconsistency that would follow in the weeks and months after - Sunderland were very poor and flat in the first half, their reaction in the second too little and too late. Dodds had shifted the perception on Wearside entirely, however, demonstrating the skills that had made Kristjaan Speakman so determined to win bring him to the club and that had so earned the respect of the Bellingham family to a wider audience. After Sunderland had failed to land their preferred candidates to replace Mowbray, with Will Still's name heavily touted, Dodds became a genuine contender to take the job until the end of the season. In the end, the club decided that it was just too soon and that doing so risked potentially losing Dodds permanently if the season did not progress as hoped. Dodds himself made clear that he was fine with that decision, with ambitions one day to do the job but also believing he still had much development to do.

Dodds is popular within Sunderland's dressing room, a key reason why the club hierarchy believe he can get the campaign quickly back on track. The fixtures lying in wait are daunting, but then that was exactly the case last time around. He is a huge part of the club's plan for the future, whether or not he emerges as a viable candidate for the job this summer.