Former Man Utd and Sunderland star emerges as favourite for Championship job

A former Manchester United star is being linked with a managerial job in the Championship.

It has been a torrid season for Reading at the basement of the Championship, with the Royals battling relegation this season. A points deduction certainly didn’t help, but Reading are currently inside the bottom three and level on points with Cardiff in the first safe position, although the Bluebirds do have a game in-hand still to play.

Amid the battle for survival, Paul Ince was sacked just over a week ago, and the Berkshire club are now searching for a new boss.

And former United centre-back John O’Shea is being linked with the job, emerging as a favourite for the job. O’Shea played for Reading towards the end of his career, albeit he only racked up nine league appearances. The centre-back, of course, made over 250 league appearances for United over a 12-year period before his departure in 2011.

Since hanging up his boots, O’Shea has gone into coaching, and he initially spent two years at Reading as a coach before leaving in 2021. The former Republic of Ireland international went on to be an assistant with his nation’s under-21s side before taking a coaching job at Stoke City in 2022, and he remains in that role.

Although, O’Shea also took up an assistant role with the Republic of Ireland earlier this year, and he is juggling to two roles currently. Although, if he gets the Reading job, he will have to leave the ireland role. Karl Robinson, Noel Hunt and Danny Cowley are also being linked with the role.