St Mirren have confirmed they have granted Sunderland permission to speak to their manager Jack Ross. The Black Cats say they are hopeful of making an announcement on Thursday.

The Scottish Championship title winners said in a statement on their website: “St Mirren Football Club can confirm we received an approach from Sunderland AFC this afternoon for permission to speak to our manager Jack Ross.

“After agreeing to our terms we have reluctantly given them permission to speak to Jack about their vacant manager’s position.”

Earlier, during a chaotic afternoon, Ross was widely reported to be the man new Sunderland owner Stewart Donald was talking about when he said he was close to naming a new boss at the Stadium of Light.

"We've agreed terms and literally the contracts are with the lawyers," Donald said.

"The man in question is absolutely thrilled, which is what we want, and I'm absolutely delighted that he's coming, so that's exciting for us. I'm hoping that by the end of the day, we can reveal that."

The Black Cats, who were recently relegated to League One, were said to have agreed a two-year deal with Ross, who would be earning five times his current salary, with the contract having an option for a further season, while St Mirren were due to receive £50,000 in compensation.

However, Buddies chairman Gordon Scott subsequently dismissed claims that his club's 41-year-old manager was in talks with the Black Cats, saying no approach had been made to the Scottish Championship winners.

"There has been no contact from Sunderland with us and Jack is on holiday. So unless there is some major skulduggery going on then it's nonsense,” he insisted.

We understand St Mirren have granted Jack Ross permission to speak to Sunderland.

Talks are ongoing - with Ipswich remaining an option, as does staying in Paisley. pic.twitter.com/iRGbjZiuH4– Superscoreboard (@ClydeSSB) May 23, 2018

Scottish radio station Clyde 1 then revealed that permission had belatedly been granted to the Wearsiders to speak to Ross but with a move to Town “remaining an option” along with staying with St Mirren.

However, Black Cats owner Donald has added to his earlier comments: "I said in the press conference we would hopefully have our man by the weekend.

"The update is we have agreed terms and as I said it is with the legals now. By close of play tomorrow I would hope to make an announcement. All on course."

Ross has twice spoken with Blues owner Marcus Evans and was understood to be one of two remaining candidates to succeed Mick McCarthy along with Shrewsbury’s Paul Hurst.

The 43-year-old, whose Shrews side face Rotherham in the League One play-off final on Sunday, is now the 6-4 odds-on favourite for the Blues job with Bet Victor with Ross now behind him at 8-1 along with former Wales and Sunderland boss Chris Coleman.

Frank Lampard is at 11-1 and Scott Parker and Tim Sherwood at 12-1, all three having been interviewed by the Blues.

Evans said last month that he hoped to make his appointment at the end of May or in early June.

Photos: Allan Picken/Action Images

12th_Man added 17:33 - May 23 Board of this now either come here or go to Sunderland
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dubblue added 17:36 - May 23 I guess he is a free agent until he is offered and signs a contract from Town, guess ME has not yet decided.....maybe he has but a decision would not be announced until terms were agreed. In any case this all helps Ross in his negotiations!!
0

jas0999 added 17:44 - May 23 Bitterly disappointing.
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Suffolkboy added 17:54 - May 23 Nothing changes in the football world then ; can't believe what you hear , nor what others say ,nor in your own mind confidently assess the proper sequence of events ; as usual a lot of smoke and mirrors ! BUT I'd stick with ME who's skills in this area must be pretty good ,and I don't think he'd not recognise that JR is a wanted man ,and that others might play their cards publicly and confidently . Fascinating ,and increasingly tense ,but we should trust MEto simply get it right ! Up the Blues !

11

timspencero added 17:57 - May 23 Let's see what becomes, but as another poster said on an earlier story: if this is the man himself revealed, after all his "proper protocol" chat a couple of weeks ago, going behind the St Mirren chairman's back and getting himself a job without even telling his current employer what was happening, then he's shown his character and we'd be better off without.
16

blue75 added 18:00 - May 23 Good luck to Ross if he goes there hope he's top of the league in October or back to Scotland he'll go!!! Big gamble for him Sunderland need a mccarthy type manager to sort out that squad they don't have a right to go straight back up and have they really got that much money to spend only 1 year of parachute payments left!!!
7

floridaboy added 18:00 - May 23 dubblue, how on earth is he a free agent? He is employed by St. Mirren so therefore everything has to go through the club
6

budgieplucker added 18:01 - May 23 We can't really blame Ross, if he hasn't had a firm offer from ME then like anyone else he has to consider the only deal on the table, Sunderland very very keen and persuasive - would you risk this opportunity for yourself and family against another opportunity that may not materialise ? I know we might be a better fit for him long term but I guess from his Family's perspective it is a much closer drive home to friends and family from the North East. Waiting for the play offs to finish was always going to add an additional risk to the process. On the flip side perhaps we do now need to reconsider our options perhaps somebody like a Carvalhal is not such a bad shout after all. I still would like to think Maurice Steijn could be a possibility but he doesn't appear to have been close at all!!!

3

Kesblue66 added 18:02 - May 23 Will we fall between two stools ?
1

MickCuresInsomnia added 18:04 - May 23 Let's face it, 2 weeks ago it would have been ‘Jack Who' and the way some of you are going on he's the next Fergie. It's most likely purely coincidental that he manages St.Mirren, just like Fergie once did and that will be where the similarities end. Let's think ‘glass half full', at least we're free of MM and at least we're not managed by ‘Danny Fu**up'. UP THE TOWN 🚜💪

13

vanmunt added 18:06 - May 23 Blue75 The way I have read the deal is that Eliss has written off the debt but has taken the last parachute payment of 40M.. I might be wrong though.
0

Pessimistic added 18:22 - May 23 Too much deliberation was always going to cause this scenario. I am hugely disappointed because we had him and then he slipped through the net.
-4

blockb_steward added 18:29 - May 23 Have we missed out because ME is keeping his options open with Hurst?
5

blockb_steward added 18:29 - May 23 (Potentially)
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cromwellblue added 18:35 - May 23 The timeline on this does not stack up. Either it's all rubbish or someone is being less than honest.
7

deano85 added 18:49 - May 23 So has a contract been agreed? If so, surely rules were broken as his under contract and meeting them?? Makes no sense he would go behind st mirrins back, considering the history of them allowing him to talk to other clubs... something seems off...
0

Europablue added 18:53 - May 23 This is really fishy. It sounds like the Sunderland manager is pretty dodgy. He announced an almost done deal, then it turns out he didn't have permission to talk to Ross, so I was thinking he must be in for someone else. Then it's confirmed that Sunderland have permission to speak to Ross now. I prefer the owner to do the deal behind closed doors and keep his mouth shut until he has something concrete to announce.

4

Monkey_Blue added 18:56 - May 23 Grow up you lot. Hardly any of you knew who Ross was two weeks ago and now the prospect of someone not coming here who you didn't know and who's had one season of sucess with a big budget in a poor quality league has some of you fuming?? It's pathetkc
13

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 18:59 - May 23 blockb steward: I think the crass reality is that we've missed out because someone else is willing to offer more money.
2

Taricco_Fan added 19:03 - May 23 I heard from a reliable source that Hurst was always the number one target. Keep the faith.
0

EssexTractor added 19:04 - May 23 Much of what we KNOW so far has been journalistic stirrings and extraordinary and bemusing comments by the St Mirren and Sunderland Chairmen. To his credit Mr Evans has " promised" a new manager will be appointed by end of May and start of June , and said nothing more, and why should he yet? I would not EXPECT Him to announce on Sky Sports News or TWTD where he is at or indeed who HE has interviewed. We have made our feelings known from readings ,You tube viewings and yes we have our opinions. We also should think that for Jack Ross and Paul Hurst be it Sunderland or Ipswich they are actually both big jumps and also they are now nicely protected in their environment, they , their wives and families and such a change of that comfortable scenario may weigh heavily upon their decision. Yes Sunderland have a large stadium and yes their fans walk out..but so have ITFCs ..certainly last season . But when all goes well at Sunderland , huge numbers return , the new set up may afford more finances to their new manager and arguably he may consider there being a greater chance of leading Sunderland back to the Championsip than ITFc into the Premiership. If Ross or Hurst are asked by others to consideroffers , fair dos to them, who in the workplace would not? These are realisms. Truthfully even 3 months ago I cannot recall many voices pleading for any of these now contenders being Championed here. Maybe we are carried away by the instant message so available to us all. Yes I have my favourite, but I believe all of us only have a hunch of who would be the best. We must hope that the decision, the hunch if you like, of Marcus Evans is this time one that in years ahead we will look back with a grateful smile. And that we do in unison go with that decision when made, give whoever it is a fair chance, before anymore slatings....

13

reva added 19:06 - May 23 Just watched Scottish News - no mention of him being interviewed by Ipswich - the impression given on the news was this was a done deal - but interestingly he's only been given permission to speak to Sunderland by St Mirran so is this the media jumping the gun or the new owner of Sunderland doing some dodgy dealing - whatever way don't like this appointment by media - anyway what does he know about the English championship and lower leagues - maybe we have been saved from disappointment

1

scorpioblue added 19:12 - May 23 Just a thought .... Has ME got permission from Shrewsbury to speak to Paul Hurst ?
1

keighleyblue added 19:13 - May 23 Or maybe, just maybe, Ross only ever saw us as a backup option? Time will tell, onwards and upwards etc
1

Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 19:13 - May 23 How about this for a conspiracy theory: Scumberland, who are clearly not above a bit of underhand dealing, really want Hurst. So they contact him unofficially and he says he'll stay at Shrewsbury if they go up. Scumberland then think, ”we might miss out on two main targets here, so let's get the Ross deal done instead.” To be continued....
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