Niall Quinn has sensationally revealed that he tried to appoint new Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal when he was Chairman at Sunderland AFC, as well as revealing in a new book called Up There by North East reporter Michael Walker, that he tried to secure Roberto Mancini after discussions with the owner Ellis Short. Quinn said: "Wed always had Steve Bruce on the list. Maybe some would say wed delusions of grandeur but we had good feedback from Louis van Gaal. The former striking legend and well-liked chairman also confirmed that he had an unlikely ally in his pursuit of Van Gaal - who would have been the kind of manager to turn Sunderland back into a major power in England if he had been snared: I spoke to him personally a couple of times on the phone at home. One time his wife answered and told me: Keep working on him, I want to go to England. And Quinn revealed he had the also gained the support of his boss at the time: That was adventurous but Ellis was all set to back it if it came off. Somewhat incredibly, it turns out that the Black Cats actually turned Mancini down, after his people got in touch with Sunderland after Ricky Sbragia left the club and told them he'd been having English lessons with an eye to a move to the Premier League: It was interesting. We opted for Steve and he got us a top-10 finish. He understood basic things like needing goal-scorers we had Danny Welbeck for a while. Does that mean Quinn has beef with the current management style of not having goal-scorers? Or with Mancini's approach to football? It seems an oddly barbed throw-away comment. Sunderland fans will now be left thinking what could have been if they appointed Van Gaal or even Mancini after he won the Premier league with Manchester City but instead were left with Steve Bruce, who left on bitter terms with the Sunderland faithful. Up There will be released for fans to enjoy from 18th August 2014.
