Former Leeds United defender Patrick Kisnorbo is currently among the bookies’ favourites to take the vacant managerial role at Sunderland.
The Black Cats are in the market for a new manager following the departure of Lee Johnson, who was sacked in the wake of their 6-0 defeat at Bolton Wanderers.
Kisnorbo has made a name for himself as a good manager back in his native Australia, working his way up through the ranks of Melbourne City.
He begun as their assistant youth coach, before then progressing to the women’s team where he was again initially the assistant, before then becoming the manager.
The 40-year-old was then appointed as the men’s assistant, a role which he has now been in for almost two-and-a-half years.
Kisnorbo has been praised for the terrific job he has done at Melbourne, guiding them to a league and cup double in his first season – their first trophies in the club’s 11-year history.
So with Kisnorbo potentially on his way back to England, here is a look at some of the former Leeds players from recent years who have made the transition into management.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Ex-Leeds striker Hasselbaink has now been in management for over 10 years, beginning his career in the dugout as an assistant at Nottingham Forest.
He has since taken the lead role at Royal Antwerp, QPR, Northampton Town and for a second time Burton Albion – the only club he has managed to win a trophy at so far, winning League Two in 2014/15.
Jonathan Woodgate
After taking a number of different coaching roles at Middlesbrough, he eventually was appointed manager of the club in 2019, where he lasted only 38 league matches after a difficult season.
Less than a year later, he then became caretaker boss of AFC Bournemouth, where he guided them to the play-off semi-finals. They were, however, defeated by Brentford, which spelled the end of his time at the club.
Harry Kewell
It’s fair to say that management has not exactly been kind to Kewell since taking his first role at Crawley Town.
After around 18 months at Crawley, he left to take over at Notts County, where he lasted just 11 league games.
Kewell was then appointed at Oldham Athletic but was sacked just seven months later. His most recent role came at Barnet, where five defeats and two draws saw him dismissed after just seven games.
Lee Bowyer
After initially taking the assistant managers role at Charlton Athletic in July 2017, he was then appointed as the club’s manager just eight months later after Karl Robinson’s sacking.
In his first full season at the club he guided them to promotion to the Championship, however they were relegated back to League One just a year later.
Bowyer is now in charge at another of his former clubs Birmingham City, where he has been for almost a year.
Erik Bakke
Former Leeds midfielder Bakke has had just one club during his managerial career – Sogndal IL – where he spent six years.
In his time at the Norwegian Second Division side, he won 102 of his 235 matches in charge.
Danny Hay
Hay is currently in his third year in charge of the New Zealand first team after taking up a number of roles within the national teams’ youth ranks.
He has progressed from the bottom of the footballing pyramid in his native country, managing the likes of National League side Eastern Suburbs on his way to the big role.
David Healy
Healy is now in his seventh year in charge of Northern Irish side Linfield, where he has won nine honours, including four league titles.
He has also been named the Northern Ireland manager of the year for the last three seasons, highlighting his growing pedigree.
Gary McSheffrey
McSheffrey started his coaching career back in 2018, where he became the professional development phase coach at Doncaster Rovers.
Eventually at the back end of 2021, he was handed the role of caretaker manager at the South Yorkshire club following the sacking of Richie Wellens. After just four matches, he was then given the role on a permanent basis.
Michael Brown
Brown went straight into management upon his retirement from his playing days, taking the assistant manager position at Port Vale in June 2016.
Just six months later he then became the club’s manager, where he won just seven of his 34 matches in charge. Almost five years later, he has not had a role since.
Steve Morison
After brief coaching stints at Northampton Town and Millwall, Morison was then appointed as Cardiff City’s Under-23s lead coach.
Following Mick McCarthy’s sacking in September, Morison was then handed the caretaker role of the club’s first team, where he was then handed it permanently two months later.
His first signing in charge of the Bluebirds was Leeds right-back Cody Drameh, who joined on loan for the rest of the season.
