SAM ALLARDYCE took charge of his first training session as Sunderland manager yesterday, before heading to the Stadium of Light to watch the club’s young guns in Euro action.

Allardyce, who will be paraded in front of the media this afternoon for the first time since signing a two-year deal, watched the Black Cats’ Under-21s take on Borussia Monchengladbach in the Premier League International Cup last night.

It was his first public appearance since taking over at Sunderland on Friday, having officially started work yesterday when he met the majority of the squad he has inherited ahead of this Saturday’s trip to West Bromwich Albion.

More of the club’s internationals will return to the Academy of Light over the next couple of days, with Allardyce hoping to be in a position to confirm his new No 2 comfortably before Sunderland travel to the Hawthorns.

It has emerged that Peter Reid, the club’s former boss who left 12 years ago this week, is interested in joining his long-term friend on Wearside. Allardyce was a director of youth in his younger days working under Reid’s management.

But Neil McDonald, the Blackpool manager, is still an option, although the Wallsend-born former Newcastle defender’s roots could prove a problem.

South Shields-born Phil Brown, the Southend boss and former assistant of Allardyce's during their time at Bolton, indicated he was flattered about being mentioned in connection with the job but was focused on staying at Roots Hall.

Reid, though, oversaw back-to-back seventh place finishes after the turn of the Millennium and he is still well loved by Sunderland fans for his success in transforming the club’s fortunes during the days when Bob Murray was chairman.

Allardyce, whose initial challenge is just to keep Sunderland up, has an opportunity to revive a Sunderland team which has regularly been threatened with relegation since promotion was last achieved under Roy Keane in 2007.

Former Sunderland defender Michael Gray, a captain during Reid’s time in charge, thinks Allardyce can bring brighter times back to the Stadium of Light.

Gray said: “He’s worked with bottom-of-the-table teams before and he’s made them better. That’s exactly what we need, but not just a quick fix.

“The managers who have come in, in the past - Paolo di Canio and Gus Poyet - have just jumped into the side and they’ve obviously tried to fix it pretty quickly and it hasn’t happened the season after.

“So I’m hoping Sam will be able to bring around a more long-term change. He’s signed a two-year contract, I thought it should have been three or four years, but I’m still so pleased he’s got two years here anyway and I hope he sees those years out and more. That’s what we need at the club."

He added: "He’s an ex-Sunderland player. That will help him because he’ll know exactly what it’s like playing in the North-East and he’s got to bring a bit of stability back to the club, and that’s what Sam does.

"I always say managers have to ‘get it’, to get what it’s like to be a part of the North-East. We don’t want the fanciest XI in the world. We just want a group of players who are going to give it everything they can. And I think Sam’s passion, which we’ve seen on the touchline in the past, I think it’s another thing he’ll bring.”