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Chris Coleman says he is prepared to take a pay cut next season if there is a chance of leading Sunderland back to the Championship.

And he also suggested he would be willing to sacrifice part or all of his pay-off if the club - either under present owner Ellis Short, or a new owner - decides to make a change.

The Black Cats boss confirmed last week that his contract does not include the same relegation clause that will see the wages of many of his players - aside from those who took a pay cut last summer - reduced by 40 per cent following relegation to League One.

But the former Wales boss told Chroniclelive that he would have ‘absolutely no problem’ renegotiating terms, insisting his priority is ensuring there is a plan and funding for team rebuilding, rather than the size of his own salary.

(Image: Sunderland AFC)

“There’s nothing [about a pay cut] in my contract but I’ll tell you know, I have absolutely no problem with having a different contract,” he said.

“That’s not the problem for me, the problem is what the plan is for the team, the signings.

“I’d do it [renegotiate] if someone wanted to look at the contract.”

Coleman left his post as Wales national manager to take over on Wearside in November, signing a two-and-a-half year deal that runs until 2020.

Coleman cannot make a decision on his own future until the uncertainty surrounding the ownership of the club, and a potential takeover, is resolved.

It will depend whether he is part of any new owner’s plans or, if there is no takeover, he will want to know if current owner Ellis Short is prepared to put any money into the team.

(Image: Sunderland AFC)

But if he does depart Wearside he has indicated that he will not seek the full payment of the remainder of his contract - which, given the club’s financial situation, will come as a relief.

He said: “I signed a two-and-a-half year contract, the plan was stay up, get up, and then stay up again, if that makes sense.

“Everything was geared towards the Premier League, that’s where we were looking.

“But look, again, whoever is the owner, if we have to cut our cloth and there are sacrifices to be made to help us go in a certain way, then I’ll do that.

“I haven’t got a problem with that.”

Coleman has repeatedly said that, as long as he feels the club has a viable plan next season, he is keen to stay on regardless of whether Short manages to sell this summer.

“The pull of the club is the size,” he said.

“I’ve come at a time, maybe my timing wasn’t right but my choice of club was definitely right.

“For me, I may never have got another chance to manage Sunderland.

“Let’s say I get nudged in a couple of weeks time, I can still say I was here, manager of Sunderland, and that means something for me.

“I hope that this time next year it is a completely different conversation, full of excitement and optimism, I still hold on to that.

“If it gets to the stage where I think I can’t do it, something drastic will have happened, and that’s after relegation which is drastic enough.

“I’m not there yet.”

While many fans back Coleman and feel the conditions in which he has had to work have meant he has not been given a fair shake, there are others who believe he has not done enough to justify being kept on.

Coleman said: “As a football manager, your future is always uncertain.

“You are four or five results away from being on thin ice, or your are five or six wins away from being linked with a better job – that’s how it is.

“We’ve just been relegated, so it’s no surprise that some people are saying I should get the sack, and others are saying I should stay in the job.

“I really don’t know what the future is going to be, and that’s quite daunting and unsettling.

“Until we get the necessary information from the necessary people, we are where we are.”

Sunderland chief executive Martin Bain spoke about the situation surrounding the takeover this week, but Coleman does not expect Short himself to speak out.

“I don’t think Ellis is going to come out and say anything,” said Coleman, who himself has never spoken to the US-based owner.

“I know Martin has been taking to people [about the takeover] but that’s nothing new, it’s been going on for months.

“The new beginning will come either when Ellis says ‘I’m still here, I can’t sell the club, and this is what my plan is’, or a new owner comes in.

“Until that happens, we are in limbo.”