Niall Quinn has been appointed player coach of North East Premier League side, Sunderland A.F.C.
Adrian Heath has been promoted to assistant manager and former assistant manager Bobby Saxton, has decided to take on a new roll. Saxtons' new roll will be that of mainly concentrating on scouting and the development of young players.
Quinn will continue to play but will have a greater role to play on the training ground. It probably makes sense as Quinn is into his final year of his contract and agreed on a pay per play basis for his final year. As he probably won't start the majority of matches this is a way of boosting his salary. It will be hoped that Quinn's popularity amongst the fans will dampen down the criticism of the coaching staff. Although this will depend on whether they see any improvement on the pitch that is. The Club sees all the new changes as a step toward a positive 2002-03' season.
Quinn, 35, is a player with a vast amount of experience at both domestic and international level. He is highly respected throughout the game. Niall as we all know is idolised in Ireland and holds the record for scoring 21 goals and has made 91 appearances for the Republic.
Will Niall have another Irish team-mate on board at Sunderland shortly?
Stuart Murdoch (Newly appointed manager, Wimbledon F.C.) has confirmed that our very own Kenny Cunningham has been in talks with Sunderland. As advised on this site on Monday 24 June 2002, Peter Reid is very interested in the Dublin centre-back . Kenny was always guaranteed first football at Wimbledon, but no doubt his World Cup displays got these talks under way.
Although it is merely talks at the moment, Murdoch is optimistic, as he wants to keep Kenny at Wimbledon. However what with the serious financial situation at the club, he may have no choice but to sell Cunningham to the Premiership club. The Deal is thought to be worth in the region of GBP£800,000.
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