Sam Allardyce is ready to return to the Barclays Premier League after Roy Keane’s resignation as Sunderland manager — via text message — yesterday. Allardyce has been out of work since his exit 12 miles away at Newcastle United in January, but he has made it known that he would be eager to succeed the Irishman at a club he served briefly as a player.

Allardyce, 54, who was interviewed by Niall Quinn, the Sunderland chairman, before Keane’s appointment in August 2006, was installed last night as the bookmakers’ favourite to assume a role that, until recent days, few would have expected to become available. In the end, however, Keane’s departure — the fifth in the Premier League this season — was typically brusque.

After 72 hours of intense discussions between Quinn, Keane and their advisers, the dissolution of a brief but spectacular partnership came by mobile phone, text and then, officially, in a fax from Keane’s solicitors. Sunderland find themselves managerless and in the relegation zone, having lost six of their past seven matches, with Keane’s authority having been diminished in the dressing-room, if not among most supporters.

“We’d been in negotiations for the last few days to see if we could provide a solution and every conversation was qualified by what was in the best interests of the club,” Quinn said.

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“Ultimately Roy has decided that it’s in the best interests of the club that somebody else should take the next chapter of where we go.” Having provided Keane with £80 million in transfer funds, there will be a queue of candidates.

Given his availability and fine record at Bolton Wanderers — where, crucially, he motivated disparate characters — Allardyce would represent a logical choice, even if his eight-month spell at St James’ Park produced uninspiring results and disenchantment among supporters. No one has managed both clubs.

Alan Curbishley, out of work since his resignation from West Ham United in September, was also approached by Quinn two years ago, while Gordon Strachan’s achievements at Celtic have been noted on Wearside. Phil Brown, the Hull City manager, is a Sunderland supporter, although Brown said yesterday that “what has gone on at Sunderland is Sunderland’s business and nothing to do with me”. Steve McClaren, the former England head coach, is not under consideration.

With efforts having been focused on finding a mechanism in which Keane could stay at a club with changing dynamics — in Ellis Short, Sunderland have a new American majority shareholder and benefactor — the process of recruiting Keane’s successor is in its formative stages. “We’ve not even thought about it,” Quinn said. “It’s been a few days of Roy and the club and now that’s something to go away and have a look at. We’ve got an open mind.

“There are various components, but finding somebody to fill Roy’s shoes, in terms of box office, is going to be a tough one. We’ll see where we go with the new management. Once the dust settles, the board members will go back to the stadium and have our first thoughts.” Ricky Sbragia, the first-team coach, has been put in temporary charge. He will be assisted by Dwight Yorke and Neil Bailey.

Quinn described the parting with Keane as amicable and was protective of his compatriot’s record and reputation. “Roy is his own harshest critic and having slipped in the last few weeks, he felt that he’d completed his journey here,” he said. “He didn’t want to get unstuck any further and find ourselves in deeper, darker territory. That’s the measure of the guy.

“I’d defend him to the hilt and how anybody could label him a quitter is beyond me. This is a decision based on what’s best for the team going forward. There were times when Roy did different things, things the man in the street might find difficult to comprehend, but when they work they’re absolutely superb.

“I think we all know the Premier League hasn’t seen the last of Roy Keane. He’s got great things to come.”