Following on from Lee Johnson's sacking as Sunderland's head coach, the Black Cats are now on the hunt to appoint a new manager as their aim to once again escape from League One and back to the Championship.

Sunderland are currently sitting in third place in the League One table with 54 points on the board from 29 games played, five points off the top spot.

Moving forward, it seems as though the Wearside club have been in talks with one potential candidate to take the reins at Sunderland that will be very familiar to a number of fans.

What's the news?

According to a recent Twitter post from journalist Luke Edwards, "SAFC have offered Roy Keane a chance to return to management after productive talks took place" on Monday.

Edwards also added that the 50-year-old "is currently thinking about the offer and will make a decision soon."

Fans will be amazed

Keane's first managerial role came with Sunderland back in 2006 where he took charge of 100 games with the club, winning 43, drawing 16 and losing 41 along the way.

A few months after leaving Wearside in December 2008, the former Manchester United midfielder took the manager's job at Ipswich Town before leaving with 81 games in charge.

Since then, the Irishman has had assistant manager roles with Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and the Ireland national team but has been out of management since 2019.

While Keane has previous experience of managing Sunderland, it's safe to say that it's a very different situation at the club now than when he was there before.

That said, with the Sky Sports pundit managing to win promotion from the Championship back to the Premier League with the Black Cats at the end of the 2006/07 season, the club's current hierarchy may well see him as a viable option to get the team back in the Championship this time around, which would surely amaze fans at the Stadium of Light.

The general appointment would also be somewhat of a shock, especially when you consider how long he's been out of the game from a management point of view.

Looking ahead, with the experience that Keane does have in management and the respect he would surely garner from the players in the dressing room as being one of the Premier League's legendary players and highly-respected captain's as well, this could be exactly what Sunderland need to push themselves over the line and get back to the second tier.

In other news: Journo claims exciting SAFC manager news could emerge by “Saturday”, fans will love it…