Sunderland have announced former Hamilton manager Alex Neil as their new head coach - and his successor comes in as assistant.
News broke on Thursday that the 40-year-old was in advanced talks with the League One club after their deal for Manchester United icon Roy Keane fell through.
Neil was last in management with Championship club Preston North End, who he left in 2021. He's since had a short-term role at Crewe and worked in media roles.
Now he returns to full-time management as Sunderland look desperately for a return to the Championship.
Martin Canning makes his return to football too as assistant manager. He took over as Accies boss from Neil and left in 2019.
Hamilton still hold Neil in high-regard after he served them with distinction as a player before guiding them to the Premiership before his 2015 departure for Norwich City, following two years at New Douglas Park's helm.
Stadium of Light sporting director Kristjaan Speakman said: “Throughout his career, Alex has demonstrated that he can make an immediate and lasting impact.
"He expressed a clear vision on how he wants to take the team forward, which strongly aligns with our core principals, and we firmly believe that he can influence performances and results in the short term.
"We are grateful to our supporters for their patience throughout what has undoubtedly been a challenging period and thank Mike Dodds and Michael Proctor for overseeing our first-team programme in the interim.
"Now, our immediate priority is to support Alex and the team to ensure we deliver promotion this season and reward the faith continuously placed in us by our supporters.”
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