HAD Roy Hodgson been dismissed in the immediate aftermath of his first European Championships failure, when England crashed out of Euro 2012 thanks to a penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy, David Moyes, rather than Sam Allardyce, would almost certainly have figured prominently on the list of potential candidates to replace him.

His Scottish roots might have counted against him, but thanks to his work at Goodison Park, which saw him successfully establish Everton in the top half of the Premier League table, Moyes was regarded as one of the brightest managerial talents in the British game.

So if Allardyce is to take charge of his country in the next couple of weeks, and Sunderland are to find themselves searching for what would be their seventh manager in the space of five years, Moyes would be the logical place to start looking.

Sean Dyche has his supporters amongst the Stadium of Light hierarchy, and the likes of Jurgen Klinsmann and Frank de Boer might appeal as more exotic choices thanks to their continental background, but it is Moyes that ticks all the boxes Sunderland should be considering if they find themselves left high and dry by the Football Association.

Given that he has briefed those close to him that he would like to take over on Wearside, the whole recruitment process could be done and dusted in a couple of days.

Moyes’ reputation has been tarnished since he left Everton, but his struggles at Manchester United and Real Sociedad shouldn’t overshadow the extent of his achievements in the first 15 years of his managerial career.

In fact, it’s debatable whether his spells at Old Trafford and Sociedad’s Anoeta Stadium should really be regarded as failures at all. Succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United was always going to be something of an impossible task, and in the context of the struggles of the last two seasons under Louis van Gaal, Moyes’ seventh-placed finish probably wasn’t the complete disaster it appeared at the time.

He only lasted 12 months at Sociedad, and won just 12 of his 42 matches, but he deserves credit for having the bravery to test himself abroad and claims to have learned a great deal from his time in La Liga. Rather than being a wasted year, it could turn out to have been the period that made him.

He certainly boasts plenty of experience in the Premier League, and his patient building job at Goodison Park is the template that most middle-ranking top-flight clubs should be looking to follow as they attempt to progress.

Moyes spent 11 years at Everton, and while his second full season saw the club finish in 17th position, nine of the other ten campaigns finished with them in the top half. Three seasons saw them end up in the top five, with Moyes leading Everton into both the Champions League and Europa League. He also took them to an FA Cup final and the semi-finals of the FA Cup and League Cup on two more occasions.

Are Everton are a bigger club than Sunderland? Recent results suggest so, and there’s no denying that the Merseyside club have been more successful in the last 30 or 40 years. But in terms of financial clout and current spending power, there shouldn’t be an awful lot in it. Yet while Moyes was stabilising Everton in the top-flight, Sunderland were yo-yoing between the top two divisions and enduring a succession of relegation fights.

In terms of methodology and approach, Moyes is fairly similar to Allardyce, and that will be an important consideration if Sunderland find themselves looking for a manager later this month. The start of the new season is looming, and time is of the essence, so after the progress of the final few months of the last campaign, a wide-scale upheaval is not required.

Evolution, not revolution, will be the order of the day, and Moyes should be able to provide that. Like Allardyce, he likes to start with a strong defensive foundation and build from the back. Like Allardyce, he likes to have a strong and dependable spine, with more creative players tending to fill the wider positions in order to play in and around that. And like Allardyce, he is prepared to be fairly adaptable when it comes to moulding an attacking formation to suit the players in his squad.

One imagines he would be a fan of Jermain Defoe, and just as Allardyce shuffled his pack to get the best out of the former England international last season, so Moyes would surely make Sunderland’s leading goalscorer the focal point of his team.

The 53-year-old has always been regarded as an astute tactician, and man management is also regarded as another of his strongest suits. He forged a strong team unit at Everton, blending a core of experienced older heads such as Tim Howard, Phil Jagielka and Gareth Barry (perhaps think Vito Mannone, John O’Shea and Lee Cattermole) with more emerging talents such as Seamus Coleman, Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku (perhaps Patrick van Aanholt, George Honeyman and Duncan Watmore in years to come).

He remains well connected in terms of the transfer market, so should be able to quickly source and recruit the players Sunderland need in order to kick on next season, and would be taking over at the Stadium of Light feeling he had a point to prove.

Combine all of that, and you have a compelling case to make Moyes Sunderland’s number one choice as Allardyce’s successor.

Of course, there is a still a chance there might not be a vacancy. The FA are due to meet with alternative candidates over the next week or so, with Eddie Howe and Jurgen Klinsmann still understood to be in the running.

As things stand though, all signs continue to point to Allardyce being appointed England boss before the end of the month. That would force Sunderland to move quickly and decisively. If Ellis Short doesn’t have Moyes’ number in his mobile at the moment, he should be keying it in soon.