Niall Quinn's decision to appoint himself manager of Sunderland yesterday was, he declared, less about ego than eventually making the job sufficiently attractive to lure a "world-class" manager to Wearside.

Indeed, the Championship club's chairman-in-waiting - Quinn formally succeeds Bob Murray next week - hopes to make a swift retreat from dug-out to boardroom. "If it takes three months to get to a point where we can bring in a new man, then great, I will gladly walk," stressed Quinn, who hinted he had come tantalisingly close to bringing first Martin O'Neill and then Sam Allardyce to the Stadium of Light.

"I don't know if I'll be manager for three months, 12 months or 18 months but there will be no ego involved," said the one-time Sunderland centre-forward.

Nevertheless his new dual role has already had an impact. "When I was going to be just chairman the players called me Niall or Quinny but now it's boss," he revealed.

He intends to be an intriguing amalgam of a modern and old-school manager. "I want to introduce a new scientific approach," he said. "I'm going to bring in a compulsory individual motivator for the players but I want to mix cutting-edge sports science with unity, heart, passion and attacking football."

His tactical manifesto should appeal to fans debating whether to renew season tickets. "We are going to attack," he insisted. "I'd much rather we won 3-2 than 1-0 - and I want wingers and crosses."

He plans to wear a collar and tie when prowling the technical area - "I think it's got to be suit, not tracksuit" - and is in effect going to be a very smartly turned out caretaker.

"My role, and the first hurdle we've got to clear, is to stop the rot, turn the corner and make the club attractive for a top-class manager," explained the 39-year-old, who has persuaded Bobby Saxton, once assistant manager to Peter Reid at Sunderland, to come out of retirement and return to his former role. "I know there's a personal risk, I understand my reputation is on the line, but it will be worthwhile if we can make the club great again.

"I wouldn't say I'm the man to take this club back to greatness over five years but I'm the best man to take it over the first hurdle."

Already there are signs of the mandatory managerial ruthless streak. Asked whether his former Ireland team-mate David O'Leary, newly sacked by Aston Villa, had been considered for the vacancy, he replied: "Dave's a friend but he's not the type of person that ticked all the right boxes."

O'Neill, Allardyce and another - unnamed but almost certainly foreign - coach did meet Quinn's Drumaville consortium's criteria and he insisted: "Drumaville could not have been more ambitious about trying to attract a world-class manager and we got very close. The reason they said no was nothing to do with finance. It was just the risk to their reputations if things didn't work out that was the stumbling block.

"There were a couple of times when I thought we were there. We were as close as you can be, we'd already agreed certain things and we thought we had the package that would get one of them to make the jump but it just didn't come off. We looked overseas as well. We looked at the very best and talked to people at the World Cup. We were told there would have been a chance if we'd been in the Premiership and they are still in our sights if things go well."

Quinn places great faith in Saxton. "Bobby's very clever, he has a great talent of getting into players' minds. Players will always find excuses or look for the easy way out but Bobby releases them from that way of thinking. There's going to be a new set of standards here - we've got to raise our game."