Ellis Short facing tough recruitment task at Sunderland

Sunderland chairman Ellis Short faces the task of persuading a new head coach he will have the tools to avoid a relegation scrap after the departed Dick Advocaat expressed his doubts.

The Texan businessman is currently assessing his options following Dutchman Advocaat's decision to walk away from the job after Saturday's 2-2 Barclays Premier League draw with West Ham.

But speaking to the Dutch media following his exit, the 68-year-old suggested he was in part influenced by a summer recruitment drive which fell some way short in terms of quality of the six key players he wanted.

Advocaat told Studio Voetbal: "I already made my decision last week, but the club asked me to do the match against West Ham and I really wanted to finish this in style.

"The struggle against relegation is not my cup of tea. I think it was time for someone else to take over at Sunderland. I became negative and that didn't feel like myself.

"I don't regret signing my new contract, because it was a great experience. Our squad was simply not good enough. The club knew that we had to strengthen ourselves, but the chairman (Ellis Short) never told me how much we could spend."

Advocaat's departure leaves the club at a crossroads once again.

With sporting director Lee Congerton understood to be working his notice, Short must decide if he wants to persist with the model of a head coach working under a recruitment specialist - something which might preclude the appointment of leading candidate Sam Allardyce - or revert to the more conventional approach.

Allardyce, Nigel Pearson and Sean Dyche are among the names which have been discussed over the last two days, although Harry Redknapp has distanced himself from the vacancy and Patrick Vieira is understood not to be a candidate.