Melanie Reay’s links with Sunderland began when she was a teenager, and the club was known as Cowgate Kestrels.

The forward twice won the Women’s Premier League Northern Division Golden Boot for Sunderland before helping the team to promotion to the top flight in 2005.

She then moved across the Tyne-Wear divide to represent Newcastle United, following in the footsteps of her cousin Alan Shearer.

She served as an assistant for Newcastle in the final two years of her playing career, which ended in 2010, and also held the role of women’s football academy head coach at Gateshead College.

In 2015, Reay returned to Sunderland this time as an assistant coach before becoming head coach in March 2017.

Her first full season in charge saw the club finish second in the third tier of English football having been relegated, before Sunderland were moved up to the Championship in 2021.

Last season, she led the team to their highest second-tier finish in ten years as they finished third having been in the running for promotion until the penultimate weekend.