This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Fan Perspective’ series, this content strand is where we deliver an opinion-based outlook from the perspective of a certain club's fanbase on the matter at hand…

Sunderland announced yesterday that they have made the decision to terminate the contract of manager Jack Ross, after 18 months of him in charge at the Stadium of Light.

Ross was able to guide Sunderland to the League One play-off final last season, but his failure to win promotion and a few questionable results at the start of this season had increased the pressure on him.

The 2-0 defeat at Lincoln City at the weekend proved to be the final nail in the coffin for Ross and the club will now begin the process of searching for his successor.

According to TEAMtalk, one of the names who Sunderland are considering as a potential candidate for the role is current Wigan Athletic boss Paul Cook.

The 52-year-old has been in charge at the DW Stadium for over two years and was able to guide the Latics to the League One title in 2017/18.

Cook is an experienced manager and could be a good appointment for Sunderland, but it would be a major blow for Wigan to lose him - given the success he's been able to achieve at the club in his relatively short time there.

Not only did he guide the club to the League One title in his first season in charge, but he was able to establish them in the Championship again.

He's building something at the DW Stadium and the players he brought in this summer - the likes of Jamal Lowe from Portsmouth and Keffier Moore from Barnsley - have really added something to the team.

According to TEAMtalk, Cook is somebody who Sunderland admire and have considered before, so there's every possibility that they could make an approach for him again and this would be almost disastrous for Wigan.

Even though Cook is currently under contract at Wigan, Sunderland would probably be prepared to pay the necessary compensation to get him.

There are plenty of reasons why Sunderland would want to appoint him too. He's got plenty of experience in League One and knows exactly what it takes to achieve success at that level.

Sunderland have already got a very strong squad and you imagine that an experienced coach like Cook would be able to get the best out of the players already at the club - perhaps in a way that Ross couldn't.

He's got a decent amount of experience in the Championship too and if Sunderland do go up this season, he would already know what to expect and should be able to cope with the challenges that come with managing at that level, making him a good long-term appointment too.

To make matters worse for Wigan fans, there's every chance that Cook could be tempted by the chance to manage Sunderland. It would instantly give him another crack at the League One title and the chance to put another promotion on his managerial CV.

He was under contract at Portsmouth when he made the decision to leave the club to join Wigan, so it's not out of the question that he would swap the DW Stadium for the Stadium of Light.

He'd be inheriting arguably the strongest squad in the division and would probably be on a far bigger budget than he is at Wigan too. There's also the possibility that Sunderland could be taken over soon, so there's a chance that he could be tempted by that too.

If Sunderland do decide to make an approach for Cook, Wigan must do everything they can to persuade him to remain at the club, although that could prove easier said than done.

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