Scott Brown enters next Sunderland manager contention as Celtic legend set to joust with Beale in Black Cats boss battle

Celtic legend Scott Brown has thrown his hat into the ring at Sunderland to replace the man who tried to bring his glittering Parkhead playing career to a premature end.

Record Sport understands the former Scotland skipper has, in the last 24 hours, entered the running to fill the hot seat at the Stadium of Light after the shock sacking of Tony Mowbray. Sources on Wearside have confirmed the Championship outfit have been made aware of Brown’s interest in discussing the vacant position. And the 38-year-old could now join a list of early contenders which include ex-Rangers boss Michael Beale and current Ibrox coach Alex Rae.

After hanging up his boots as a player at Aberdeen, Brown had been cutting his teeth in management in the third tier of English football at Fleetwood Town, keeping the minnows safe from relegation against the odds last season and leading them on a historic run to the fifth round of the FA Cup. But, despite that reasonably impressive first campaign in charge, Brown left Highbury earlier this season with the club in a state of turmoil after chairman Andy Pilley was jailed for 13 years on fraud convictions.

Since then, Brown has been linked with a number of positions both in England’s championship and in League One while he plots the next stage of his transition into the dugout. And the lure of leading Sunderland’s bid to return to the top of the English game has clearly fired his imagination.

Mowbray was binned on Monday after a miserable run of results which saw his side tumble into 9th place in the table, having only narrowly missed out in the Premier League play-offs in May. But Brown believes he could help arrest that slide by taking over from the man who infamously threatened to cut his Celtic