Tony Mowbray is expected to be in charge at Sunderland next season despite reports that the club was lining up a replacement head coach. Mowbray guided a young, inexperienced, team to the Championship play-offs just 12 months after the Black Cats had achieved promotion from League One.
Sunderland's sixth-placed finish far exceeded the brief he was handed when he took over at the end of August, Mowbray still has another 12 months remaining on his contract on Wearside, and despite the disappointment of defeat in the play-off semi-finals the 59-year-old said this week that he wants to stay at the club next season. Yet the club has remained silent, which has allowed reports claiming that it is considering a change with names such as former Alanyaspor coach Francesco Farioli, ex-Barnsley and New York Red Bulls boss Gerhard Struber, and Red Bull Salzburg coach Matthuas Jaissle, linked with the role.
But ChronicleLive understands that Mowbray is taking a relaxed view of the situation and is continuing to make plans for next season's Championship campaign with the Wearsiders. In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday's play-off defeat at Luton, Mowbray had said: "I've enjoyed it, but who knows what my future holds. Let's wait and see.
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"Do I want to be here next season? I do, yes.
"But let's wait and see how it goes, and what the summer brings. I don't know what will happen next.
"I'll just get on with it. I've got a contract so I'll just keep going."
In the final weeks of the season, Farioli's name was the first to be linked with Sunderland and Mowbray said he spoke to sporting director Kristjaan Speakman about the story. "Kristjaan did come into my office and have a discussion," Mowbray said a fortnight ago.
"It was hugely played down, really. I said to [the media] at the time, it's irrelevant to me - it doesn't matter. I wasn't stamping my feet saying 'what is going on?'
"I understand football clubs so, yeah. It was irrelevant to me.
"If I did have a discussion [with Speakman], it was finished in five minutes and pushed under the carpet, and let's see what the summer brings."
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