Sunderland CEO seeks to reassure fans over slow-paced manager hunt but in reality says nothing at all

Faced with growing unease about the pace and direction of Sunderland's hunt for a new manager, chief executive Martin Bain has sought to reassure supporters that the club are moving forward with their plans to appoint a successor to David Moyes. But in reality, the statement on safc.com says so little as to be largely useless.

SAFC.com

In it Bain insists "the recruitment process is ongoing" - which is one thing at least - but suggests Sunderland hope to conclude matters as speedily as possible whilst negating that remark by insisting the club will take its time in appointing their favoured candidate for the job:

Pre-season is an important period at any football club so naturally we are keen to conclude things as quickly as possible, whilst being mindful of the need to make the right appointment.

With politicians filling our screens ahead of Thursday's general election, that convoluted way of saying precisely nowt would not have looked out of place in any televised debate this week.

Perhaps the man heading up the recruitment exercise could hardly have been expected to say a great deal more, much as we may have appreciated hints of a little extra impetus.

Whilst many will agree that this post-Moyes appointment is the single most important managerial appointment at the Stadium of Light for a decade, the process sure looks to be drifting.

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images

And couple the bland rhetoric with the public presentation of how the search for a new boss is proceeding and many will be scratching their heads a little this evening.

As the quest to appoint a man who can rebuild a fractured Black Cats squad and reignite the passion of the Sunderland faithful enters its third week, newspaper columns are hardly inspiring as to how the hunt is progressing.

When the sum total of two weeks' worth of reflection and planning is to seemingly invite Nigel Pearson and Simon Grayson for an interview, whilst pondering an approach for Derek McInnes at some rumoured indefinite point in the next few days, a waning enthusiasm amongst the fan base after the euphoria of Moyes' resignation is perhaps understandable.

And add to that reports in the media which suggest the apparent favoured choice - Aberdeen boss McInnes - will seek reassurances over transfer budgets after initial discussions with chief negotiator Walter Smith and that Sunderland are loathe to pay the market rate of compensation required to land him, and many will be forgiven for fearing how this will now play out.

Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images

With the blandest list of candidates for any of the club's recruitment exercises in recent years, today's public utterances confirm that Bain has no intention of addressing any of the growing chatter of concern.

As usual, the hatches have now been battened and no further communication will be forthcoming from within the bowels of the Stadium of Light until the new man is appointed. And perhaps with justification as Championship rivals Middlesbrough, Hull City and Leeds United are also in the hunt for a new boss.

But it is the Sunderland way - the lofty assumption that a couple of sentences will quieten the masses. And whilst the CEO can be forgiven for being a rather busy man right now and few would have expected a soul-baring detailed manifesto, Martin Bain and the Sunderland board may have been better advised to sit down for ten minutes and prepare a statement that actually said something of substance to present to a battle-weary but still eager Wearside public.