SUNDERLAND HAVE made Martin O’Neill their first choice to replace the sacked Steve Bruce and hope to formalise his appointment as the new manager within the next 24 hours.

Although Ellis Short, Sunderland’s chairman, and Niall Quinn, the club’s international development director, were locked in productive and fast-moving talks with the former Aston Villa and Celtic manager last night, they retained the precaution of keeping a Plan B. Should negotiations with O’Neill hit an 11th-hour stumbling block, Short will turn to Mark Hughes.

Short has long been said to be an admirer of Hughes, who resigned his post at Fulham in June, but Quinn persuaded the Irish-American financier to regard O’Neill as his preferred choice, making initial contact with him after Bruce’s sacking on Wednesday afternoon.

With Quinn – who, as Sunderland’s chairman tried to convince O’Neill to take charge on Wearside before Roy Keane’s appointment five years ago – persuading Short that a man who has not worked since leaving Aston Villa on the eve of last season possesses the right credentials to spark a revival at the Stadium of Light has left Hughes waiting by the phone at his home in Manchester.

The former Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and Fulham manager had hoped to be invited for an interview yesterday but Sunderland instead opted to concentrate their endeavours on trying to finalise an agreement with O’Neill before Sunday’s game at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

With Short demanding a quick decision from the 59-year-old boyhood Sunderland supporter, the door may open for Hughes if the O’Neill talks stall. The Welshman remains keen on succeeding Bruce. Hughes believes that, despite the prospect of initially working with extremely limited funds as Short tries to balance the books, he could build a long-term legacy at the 49,000-capacity Stadium of Light. Whoever takes charge must first steer the team towards mid-table safety.

Meanwhile, Alex Ferguson was so incensed by Manchester United’s performance against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night as they went out of the League Cup he took the rare step of issuing an immediate apology to the club’s supporters.

Ferguson seemed shocked by the 2-1 quarter-final defeat and made little attempt to disguise his anger and disappointment. “I don’t know where to start,” he said. “My apologies go to the fans because that was not a Manchester United performance. I don’t want to take anything away from Crystal Palace and I wish them every success because that was a fantastic, mammoth effort by every one of their players. But I’m just very disappointed.

“I’m so disappointed and I also have to apologise to the players who weren’t playing. We never expected that. Any time we go on the pitch it means a lot to Manchester United. We have our pride to protect and our history to protect. Every time we walk on the pitch it’s important . . . There were nine internationals out there, so that was a big disappointment.”

Guardian Service