COLEMAN TO TAKE REINS AT SUNDERLAND

CHRIS COLEMAN has stunned the Welsh FA by walking out to take charge of Sunderland. The 47-year-old who took the country to the Euro 2016 semi-finals will join the Championship club by tomorrow and be in charge for Tuesday’s trip to Aston Villa.

Sportsmail revealed on Thursday that Coleman, whose talks over a new contract had stalled, was interested in the vacancy and he has now told the Welsh FA he will end his sixyear stint as national manager. FA of Wales chief executive Jonathan Ford said: ‘We are extremely disappointed to see

Chris’s tenure come to an end. We and Wales as a nation will be eternally grateful for the job he has done over six years. We wish Chris the very best of luck for the future.’ Wales would like to bring in Ryan Giggs as Coleman’s replacement but don’t know if they can afford him. Giggs was interim manager at Manchester United for four matches when David Moyes was sacked and then Louis van Gaal’s assistant. He left Old Trafford when Jose Mourinho arrived as manager. Current Wales assistant Osian Roberts could well end up taking charge. Coleman had asked for more full time support staff after failing to qualify for next summer’s World Cup as part of talks about extending his contract, which was due to expire before the end of the year. He was unhappy that the Welsh FA didn’t want to meet those demands. Coleman will replace Simon Grayson, who was sacked last month after just one win in 15 league matches.

NORTHERN IRELAND could also lose their manager after giving Scotland permission to speak to Michael O’Neill about succeeding Gordon Strachan. The IFA offered to improve O’Neill’s £500,000-a-year contract that still has two years to run. But the 48-year-old was given verbal permission to open talks with other parties earlier this week, and that was ratified at a board meeting yesterday.