Artcle in the Express SUNDERLAND chairman Niall Quinn is a shock contender to take over as Manchester City’s new chief executive. It’s believed that City, searching for a successor to Garry Cook who resigned over an alleged unsavoury email, are aware of uncertainty over their former striker’s future at the Stadium of Light. Sunderland club officials had to move swiftly two weeks ago in the aftermath of a home defeat against Chelsea to deny Wearside rumours Quinn had resigned. Sunday Express Sport has reported that relations between Quinn and American owner Ellis Short have become strained over the past months with Short bringing in two of his own men from the USA to enable a more hands-on approach from the other side of the Atlantic. Friends say that Quinn has become frustrated believing he has become the whipping boy for any Sunderland problems City, who have started a worldwide search for the right man to head the off-the-field Etihad Stadium operations, are considering Quinn’s attributes in the knowledge that he remains a favourite with the club’s older fans. Quinn also has an ally in City’s head of football operations, Brian Marwood. The pair have remained friends after being team-mates at Arsenal in the 1980s
Not sure about this one, Quinn doesn't have the clout he had when he first became chairman as that has been gradually eroded by Short especially over the last year or so. So maybe a move for him to his "other" club would be best for all concerned, would prefer him to stay with us as he identifies with the fans.
Would be a huge blow for us but I couldn't fault the man if he was interested in such a fantastic opportunity . He saved this club and woulf surely go with everyones blessing
As a figurehead he is unbeatable. As a professional CEO he has a lot to learn. If Man City are just looking for a face to sell the club then he would be an excellent choice but then he has that role here already. Quinny wouldnt cut it in the cut throat executive world that is required. He is no Peter Kenyon for example is he. Ellis Shorts impatience with a lacklustre SAFC, despite all the money and settled atmosphere provided, is shared by me also and maybe he does want a much more hands on role or to put HIS people in charge of HIS money. Quinny was by his own words not a long term solution but a conduit by which the Drumaville and now Short regimes could prosper. Whether that reign has now seen its natural demise or not only the powers to be will tell you. I want Quinny to remain as the public face of the club but I wouldnt be adverse to seeing some much more professional people employed in the background to do the nasty stuff required for the club to succeed. just get the feeling the Quinny and Bruce relationship is a bit too cosy and warm for my liking and that any other manager that had failed to deliver with all the financial and supportive noises as Bruce has would have been peddled before now. Bruce needs to be kicked up the arse and told in no uncertain terms that what he is producing simply ain't good enough. 2 years and 5 transfer windows down the line and we are still in the 'experimental stage' of the Bruce master plan. No direction, planning or team building has taken place as far as I can see and we seem to be blooding a completely new team every 6 months. Very, very poor imo. Bruce has till the turn of the year to establish a comfortable top 10 place where one result doesnt catapult us back down the table each week. 14 games to take us to within touching distance of the top 6 or bye bye Geordie boy for me. Short isn't going to just chuck more dosh at a failed transfer policy from Bruce in January imo and if we are not contenders for a top 6 place, I think Short will be looking for new blood. If that means Quinny is upset by this and feels the need to move on then thats his choice too but the grass is never greener on the other side and working for the Sheiks down at the Etihad wont be no bed of roses either I think. Don't want the big man to go but I wouldnt beg him to stay either. SAFC was around a lot longer than Niall and will be so after he leaves and that is a 100% cast iron fact that no one can deny.
I dont see Quinn as a CEO, dont think he has it in him. Great chairman and ambasador but he is also clever and knows his limitations.
If Quinn did go..and hope he doesn't...then Bruce will have lost a key ally in the boardroom. Quinn is a legend here, If he has a decision to make, I hope his decision is not based on cash.
Just perusing the tinterweb and spotted this : http://www.people.co.uk/sport/footb...place-garry-cook-at-man-city-102039-23444095/ Quinn has been good for the club but would him moving to City, if he does, make a difference to our club i.e. a new chairman. Your thoughts peeps?
You know, I wish people would read first before commenting. I said within touching distance of 6th, not in the top 6. We were in this position in January before the annual result collapse so loved by Bruce. If we are there again in January next year, I have no grounds for complaint. If we are hanging onto 10th but more within touching distance of the bottom 6, then he should be bladdered before the Christmas Turkey is used up. Just my opinion of course before the happy clappers attack me with vigour.
Bruce would be very much out on a limb and couldnt survive without Quinns protection imo. I think he has been very fortunate to have Quinny as an ally in the boardroom thus far and any other manager at any other club, given his home form, would have been got rid of long before now. Just watch how long Blackburn hang onto a failing manager in Steve Kean. He'll be out before bonfire night is here, a new man installed and I'd guess it will be Hughes or MoN.
Well I hope that NQ does not leave - or is pushed!? I do believe he is on record as saying that the Chairmans role is one he is continually learning about, AND that he didn't see a long term future for him in that role. Not because of "boardroom squabbles" but due to the fact that he wanted to do other things, it was his love of SAFC that brought him as he felt he had to. Whatever decision he takes I hope it is because he decides and not from other factors or influences. As regards CEST's point aroung NQ protecting SB, I do feel he's wrong - not because there may be a close affinity between the two, but because as a principle, managers SHOULD be given 3 years. If ANY manager had not progressed a side (and SB has) and say relegation was staring the club in the face then the reasoning for any managers replacement would have a substantial weight of reasoning behind it.
Losing Niall Quinn would make a difference to any - even the biggest - Premiership club. He is quite simply the best Chairman and PR man in the business - if he wasn't, the 'golden hand-sheiks' wouldn't want him. For a club like Sunderland to have him is terrific. His problem has been his seemingly unbreakable tie with Bruce. I know we finished tenth, but I still can't see that any other manager would have survived the last nine months performances - we've been awful, and so has he. Unfortunately, Niall has allowed a little bit of that to rub off on himself, and his own position has been weakened by it. I hope to god Niall stays here. I'd be gutted if he left. When he came here, we were Championship stuff, and, the way things were going, would anyone have been surprised if we'd ended up in Div. 1? He's been brilliant for us and, if he goes, I'd wish him the very best of luck with City. If one SAFC fan bad-mouthed him for leaving (greedy b**tard, etc.) I'd be disgusted.
Quinn would be a massive loss, one of the best guys in football and we are soooo lucky he loves us!!!
When he came back to SAFC, I remember Quinny saying that this is the only club he would join and that if he wasnt going to be at SAFC, he wouldnt want anything to do with football. Things might have changed like (or he might just have been saying that) but I would imagine that when his time is up at SAFC, he will go and enjoy his very well earned retirement, probably back in Ireland
I usually cannot understand the workings of the minds of some people who idolise other human beings whether it be in politics or film,or football or any sphere of human life...its just not in my nature!I respect people for the work or the acts that they do but i do not create some form of super being and i am not a creator of pedestals................however i do give credit where it is due.....to put it simply quinn has saved SAFC from near oblivion on two occasions....firstly when he arranged the irish takeover and again when he persuaded short(multi billionaire) to take over,so he deserves some respect and he will always have mine!.......does anybody actually thinks safc will be better of with him moving to city!.... Well it is my opinion that it beggers belief that anyone could formulate such a idiotic idea.get a grip.....yes!.....no one person is greater than the the club itself..mainly because people come and go and life goes on,people fade but the club continues on..but in this period of the clubs history quinny is Mr Sunderland and if we loose him we will have lost a great figurehead and will be a slightly lesser entity.....I can easily understand why the sheeeeks want him and i for one will not blame him for going given some of the more idiotic comments going around in bloggy land..anyone got a spare pedestal i could use?
I hope Quinn stays at SAFC. If he goes I know who will get the blame, any fan who questioned Bruce or Quinn's decision making. The same faces will have ready made threads slanging off anyone who questioned a Quinn decision. They are human beings and fallible and no one is above criticism. Oh and no one is bigger than SAFC.
