Former Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn has ruled out the possibility of making a return to the club.
Quinn helped to secure an agreement involving a consortium of Irish businessmen in 2006 and remained as the Black Cats' chairman until 2011.
The 55-year-old officially left Sunderland in 2012 following a brief spell as the club's Director of International Development.
It is understood that the club's current part-owners Stewart Donald and Charlie Methven are both looking to sell their shares in Sunderland.
Sunderland are set to participate in the Championship next season following their play-off final triumph over Wycombe Wanderers and thus will be keen to engage in some transfer activity over the coming months.
With the 2022/23 campaign set to begin next month, the Black Cats may need to act quickly in order to secure the services of some fresh faces this summer.
Making reference to the current situation at the Stadium of Light, Quinn has admitted that he doesn't believe that he is the right man to help lead Sunderland into a new dawn.
Speaking to the Sunderland Echo about whether he would be open to a return, Quinn said: "There are far better people around to bring the club to the next stage than me
"It is going to be really interesting watching it this year from afar.
"I know everything that is going on because my son is on every forum and listens to every podcast.
"He'll keep me well informed.
"But you get the feeling it is going to be exciting.
"The negative stuff that has been in the background over the years that might just erode away now and hopefully we can talk about the future."
The Verdict
With Quinn opting to rule out a return to Sunderland, it will be interesting to see whether Donald and Methven do end up selling their shares in the club ahead of the upcoming campaign.
The Black Cats will be hoping that Alex Neil will be able to continue to impress in his managerial role.
Having previously led Norwich City to promotion to the top-flight and Preston North End to a ninth-place finish in the second-tier, Neil will be confident in his ability to guide Sunderland to a relative amount of success at this level.
Sunderland will unquestionably need to add to their squad over the summer due to the fact that they are set to wave goodbye to the likes of Aiden McGeady, Arbenit Xhemajli and Lee Burge when their contracts expire later this month.