Sunderland interim head coach Mike Dodds wants his long-term future to be at the club after taking on the role until the end of the season.
The 37-year-old replaces Michael Beale in the Black Cats' dugout, after the former Rangers' boss lasted just 63 days in charge.
Dodds takes up the role for the second time this season and despite playing down talk of taking the role on a permanent basis, sees his long-term future at the club.
READ MORE: Sunderland's Beale accountability difficult to ascertain
When asked if he'd had conversations with the hierarchy about stepping back down into the role of first-team coach, he told We Are Sunderland: "Yeah I hope so. I'm not stepping up to help out and then get the sack at the end of it. Like I said, I've settled in the area and I love it.
"I absolutely love it and I think it's an unbelievable football club that hopefully, in the not too distant future, will be back where it belongs. We've got to earn the right to be there and I want to be respectful to all the other teams.
"There's nine teams ahead of us already. My long-term future I see here until the club tell me otherwise. That's where I'm at."
“I tried to answer it respectfully last time and where I'm at with it is, I'm really respectful of how big this football club is and that there will be hundreds of people who would love to be in this position," he added.
“So, I’m not going to come out and say I don’t want the job, because I’m respectful of the fans first and foremost, I'm respectful of Sunderland as a football club but at the same time, I want to be a head coach one day and I appreciate that my first opportunity might be my last opportunity. So, it's got to be right for me in terms of my process and what I want to do.
“I wasn't throwing my hat in the ring 12 weeks ago and not a lot has changed since then from my perspective. I'm happy to help out and happy to keep working with the players, because I love working for the football club. In terms of my timeline, though, not a huge amount has changed.”
Dodds' previous interim tenure saw him claim six points from a possible nine, with two home wins against promotion rivals in West Brom and Leeds United.
In the aftermath of those victories, he spoke about looking forward to his time off, something he admits he needs to work on.
"Yeah that's something I need to be better with, because I was just so intense around the games and I don't think that will ever change," Dodds said. "What I do need to do is find other ways to let the pressure off myself and that's something I'll find out about myself over the next 13 games.
"If it's something I want to do in the future, it's something I need to find out about myself."
Beale's departure thrust Dodds back into the limelight, after 63 days of working in his preferred first-team coach role. As the outgoing Sunderland head coach left the club, there were accusations of the former Rangers man being the wrong fit, a rhetoric Dodds doesn't completely agree with.
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“I wouldn’t completely agree with that,” Dodds said. “I’m not involved in all those meetings, discussions and interviews, and I’m sure they spoke to a number of candidates.
“The outcome has been something I didn’t personally want. I didn’t want to be sat here, and if we’re being completely honest, the club wouldn’t have wanted me to be sat here either. The outcome is the outcome no one wanted – Mick didn’t want, and the players definitely didn’t want.
“But unfortunately, sometimes things don’t fit. I liked a lot of Mick’s ideas and I will take some of his ideas, because I think they were very forward-thinking and progressive. But sometimes in life, things just don’t work out. I wish Mick all the best – he was very good to me. I know he’s got a lot of personal things going on at the moment, and I think he’s going to spend some time with his family, which is probably right for everyone.”
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