Sunderland have had some massive names at the club both on and off the pitch.

From their time in the Premier League to their current place in League One, the Black Cats have seen some big personalities leading the club as manager, but as we know, reputation means nothing in football.

Some have thrived in the role while others have massively underachieved in comparison with expectations.

Either way, there's been some memorable managers at the Stadium Of Light over the years.

Managers are often judged on points per game, but which Sunderland boss from the last two decades comes out on top in that ranking? We took to Transfermarkt to find out.

But remember that PPG doesn't necessarily mean success...

Big Sam had to make the top 10.

Allardyce was appointed as Sunderland boss in October 2015 after replacing Dick Advocaat and spent around 18 months in the role.

His only season in charge of the club was a relative success based on his brief with the manager leading the Black Cats to safety after a difficult start to the season.

Sunderland did it by the skin of their teeth and finished in 17th position before Allardyce was appointed as England manager in July 2016.

Relegation battles aren't great for PPG stats and 1.16 per game on average shows that.

He might be Newcastle United boss now but his PPG puts him at number nine in Sunderland's list.

Bruce was appointed in June 2009 after replacing Ricky Sbragia as manager at the Stadium Of Light.

The former Manchester United defender spent around two and a half years in charge of the Wearsiders and achieved two mid-table finishes with Sunderland finishing in 13th and 10th during his two full seasons in charge.

However he was sacked in November 2011 after a poor run of results.

Tasked with battling away in the Premier League Bruce achieved a PPG of 1.16 on average which was enough to achieve his objectives during his time in charge.

A man who is remembered fondly from his time at the Stadium Of Light.

Reid was appointed in March 1995 with Sunderland battling to avoid relegation from the old First Division at the time.

The gaffer secured survival that term with a 20th place finish before exceeding all expectations the following year by securing promotion for the Black Cats in the 1995-96 season.

After suffering relegation the next year Reid led Sunderland to two strong Division One finishes as his team were beaten in the play-off final to Charlton before going up again in 1998-99.

Two excellent seventh-place finishes in the Premier League followed before Reid was sacked in October 2002 with a PPG of 1.21 - an average that was clearly affected by his time in the top flight.

The Uruguayan was a popular figure during his time with the club as run to the League Cup final provided plenty of memories for supporters.

Unfortunately cup games don't apply to PPG statistics, sorry Gus!

Poyet was appointed in October 2013 and led Sunderland to a 14th place finish in the Premier League that season.

The second season was dominated by cup success meaning that their league form suffered and that's when Poyet was sacked in March 2015 with the Black Cats sitting perilously close to the drop zone.

Poyet had a PPG of 1.23 as the club's mediocre league form stopped him from really kicking on.

The Northern Ireland manager makes it to number six on the list.

O'Neill was appointed in December 2011 but lasted little over a year in the hotseat of the club that he supported as a child.

His first season ended with a 13th place finish in the league, however his second campaign wasn't going quite as well as he ended up being sacked in March 2013.

Despite the club's form under O'Neill Sunderland managed to avoid the drop by the skin of their teeth with Paolo Di Canio replacing him.

As a result O'Neill left with a rather underwhelming PPG of 1.26.

Big Mick makes it to number five in our list of managers according to PPG.

McCarthy replaced Howard Wilkinson in March 2003 but couldn't stop the club from suffering relegation in the 2002-03, however he did quickly rebuild the team to help them back to the top flight.

After missing out on promotion via the play-offs, McCarthy led Sunderland to promotion in 2004-05 with an impressive 94 points to their name.

Returning to the top flight Sunderland found it hard and the Yorkshireman ended up being sacked in March 2006, with the club going on to be relegated again.

However his promotion and relegation campaigns seemed to cancel each other out with a PPG of 1.38.

We had to give a place to Keano, didn't we?

The Irishman took charge of Sunderland in September 2006 and made an immediate impact by leading the Black Cats to promotion from the Championship after winning the league in his first season in charge.

Keane then consolidated the club's place in the top flight by guiding the team away from the relegation zone and earning a 15th place finish in the 2007-08 campaign.

However the wheels started to come off in the opening months of 2008-09 with the former Manchester United skipper eventually walking away in December of that year.

But after an impressive promotion-winning season Keane still had a PPG of 1.45, putting him in fourth place in our rankings.

Third place may sound flattering here but given that the club were promotion favourites in League One it puts things into context.

Parkinson was appointed as manager in October 2019 after replacing Jack Ross in the hotseat at the Stadium Of Light.

Promotion was the one and only target for the Black Cats but a patchy sequence of results over the course of the season saw the club miss out on a spot in the top six due to League One's points per game average - a system brought in due to the premature end of the season due to COVID-19.

It was an unprecedented season but put simply, Sunderland should have done better.

The start of this term wasn't any better and the decision was made to sack Parkinson with a PPG of just 1.46 - an average that is not impressive in the third tier.

The Scottish manager came awfully close to guiding Sunderland to promotion in 2018-19.

Ross joined the club after they suffered relegation from the Championship and oversaw huge change in the playing squad as he geared the team up for life in the third tier.

While Sunderland missed out on automatic promotion, Ross did lead the club to the play-off final only to fall short against Charlton Athletic at Wembley Stadium.

Ross had the chance to take the league by storm the following year but got off to a slow start and was replaced by Phil Parkinson in October 2019.

A PPG of 1.91 was good, but not good enough to see the team go up automatically.

Could this be an omen that this is the year?

Johnson was appointed as Sunderland manager in December 2020 and has been flying ever since.

While he's only been in charge for a number of months Johnson has taken the club from a mid-table position and into the heart of the promotion mix.

Sunderland are the in-form team and look good value to secure an automatic promotion spot come the end of the season.

With a PPG of 2.09, Johnson has the best record of any manager in the last 20 years and given how close the Black Cats came under Jack Ross it seems that this marginally better points per game average could be the difference between play-off heartache and automatic promotion.