Mike Dodds: 'I want to prove I’m good enough for permanent Sunderland role'

Mike Dodds has admitted that he sees his current stint in charge of Sunderland as an opportunity to audition for the head coach job on a permanent basis.

Dodds was promoted to the top job for the last 13 games of the season after Michael Beale was sacked in February.

It is the second time he has been in charge this season alone, third in total, and he has always dodged questions about whether he wants to keep the role full-time up until now.

He, though, has now admitted that he definitely wants to prove he can manage Sunderland and give the decision-makers at the club something to think about this summer.

Speaking to William Hill at the North East Football Writers’ Awards, Dodds said: “The last few weeks haven’t been easy and it never is when someone loses their job, you never want that to happen to anyone.

“Then your life gets turned upside down and it becomes a bit of a whirlwind, but management is still definitely something that I want to continue to do in the future. It is a good experience for me, especially given the sheer size of Sunderland as a club.

“At the moment we’re in a bit of a situation in terms of results not going the way that we’ve wanted but I’m quietly confident that we can change that very quickly.

“There is an element of me wanting to prove that I am good enough to do the job on a full-time basis.

“Whether it is an ego thing or a case of me wanting to try and prove something, my biggest focus is on the club and not letting anyone down because I’ve fallen in love with the area and the football club.

“As the manager, when results aren’t positive you have to shoulder the responsibility and that is something that I need to learn. Hopefully that will get easier for me as I gain more experience because the last couple of weeks haven’t been easy.

“It is a great experience but at the same time it isn’t lost on me that this is Sunderland, not the Mike Dodds experience. We have to win games of football and the club is more important than any individual.