Sunderland's sporting director Kristjaan Speakman has revealed the club tried to renew Alex Neil's contract on Friday amid the Scotsman's departure from the Stadium of Light for Stoke City.
Neil looks set to take the Potters job following a whirlwind turn of events on Wearside that have left Sunderland searching for a new manager after just six games back in the Championship.
The Black Cats were forced into appointing Martin Canning as interim boss for their Saturday lunchtime clash against Norwich City which was hardly ideal given the timing.
READ MORE: Next Sunderland manager odds as favourite emerges to replace Stoke City-bound Alex Neil
While Neil did return Sunderland back to the Championship following years in the wilderness of League One, his departure to join Stoke leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of supporters.
Sunderland have enjoyed a strong start to life back in the second tier and spirits on Wearside were high. However, things could now take a sour turn if the club do not appoint the right manager for the job in the coming days.
And speaking to Sky Sports before the Norwich clash, Speakman revealed the Blacks Cats had made a bid to keep Neil prior to his impending exit from the north east for Stoke, whilst also giving fans and update on what will happen next once the Scotsman's departure is finalised.
"We had a really well structured contract for when he [Neil] moved into the Championship," explained Speakman
"It had the appropriate up-lifts, etc. We had a discussion in the summer because we wanted to reward him and almost provide a well done. That contract was redrawn up and was only signed four weeks ago.
"And then obviously on yesterday's news, naturally for us wanting to retain that coach and retaining that person within our football club, we made a further move to offer another set of terms and unfortunately that doesn't look like it's going to be enough for him to stay.
"In the background, we've always been running a process of identifying and tracking coaches like you would do with players. I think that's certainly reasonable for a club of our stature. Once this matter concludes with Alex, then we will embark on that interview process and we will try to do that in the quickest possible time.
"We've spent a lot of time in the last vacancy period on doing some due diligence so I don't feel like we'll need quite as much time to turn that around. Naturally, we need to make the right decision and we need to get the right person in post."
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