Alex Neil's rescue of a disintegrating League One season has Sunderland back in the Championship, unbeaten in 18 league games, and Gav Henderson from the Roker Report says there's more to come.
Welcome back, how was the promotion won in the end?
Promotion was won in the very best way possible - at Wembley stadium, with 50,000 of our own fans in attendance, in what was a dominant display against a team who have given us a few problems during our time in League One. As much as I'd have liked us to have romped home to the league title, gaining promotion in the way that we did was truly epic. We looked rudderless when Lee Johnson got the sack in March, but Alex Neil came in and immediately steadied the ship, and bar a loss to MK Dons at the start of his tenure we were unbeaten right until the end of the season. The only disappointment is that we probably could have gone up automatically had he been given the job sooner, but I'll take what we ended up with every day of the week.
Thoughts on Alex Neil?
I love Alex Neil and rate him as the best manager outside of the Premier League - he's that good. Some might scoff at that but everything we were told about him before he arrived by Norwich and Preston fans was completely true, and then some. He's totally in control of everything he does and gives everyone around him a huge lift - he commands respect and totally understands the scale of the job he's taken on. It's easy to see why he's always stayed in jobs for a long time, and why he's been successful since entering management.
Sunderland results so far…
Sunderland 1-1 Coventry Clarke 12 — Gyokeres 84
Bristol City 2-3 Sunderland Weimann 10, Martin 51 — Simms 4, 53, Stewart 72
Sheff Wed 2-0 Sunderland Adeniran 16, Sow 56
Thoughts on your summer transfer window so far, Ballard looks a good pick up?
I'm really happy with our business so far. Perhaps some of the best and most important moves we've made have been in tying down vital players to new deals, and the acquisitions of Daniel Ballard from Arsenal, Aji Alese from West Ham and Jack Clarke from Tottenham show that we've got a big focus on developing young talent, and that there's a decent budget available to our recruitment team to spend. We're not done yet and I'd expect us to make even more cracking signings as the window progresses.
Simms looks very good. You can’t ask for much more than two goals on his debut — and he’ll feel really unlucky that he didn’t get at least a hattrick last week, which he would have done had it not been for some fantastic saves and a dodgy refereeing decision that denied him a penalty kick.
Other than that, we’ve not done a massive amount — backup goalie Alex Bass came in from Portsmouth, and Jack Clarke signed permanently after a successful loan last season. He’s come back this summer a far better player and was outstanding against Bristol City. We’re still four or five players off from completing our squad — Alex Neil said this himself, so he’s expecting plenty more players coming in - and with some key additions we could have a squad that’s capable of pushing for a top half finish.
Ins >>> Daniel Ballard, 22, CB, Arsenal, £2m >>> Leon Dajaku, 21, CF, Union Berlin, £783k >>> Jack Clarke, 21, RW, Spurs, Undisclosed >>> Aji Alese, 21, CB, West Ham, Undisclosed >>> Alex Bass, 24, GK, Pompey, Undisclosed >>> Ellis Simms, 21, CF, Everton, Loan
Outs >>> Will Grigg, 31, CF, MK Dons, Free >>> Aiden McGeady, 36, AM, Hibs, Free >>> Lee Burge, 29, GK, Northampton, Free >>> Jordan Willis, 27, CB, Released >>> Arbenit Xhemajli, 24, CB, Vaduz (Liechtenstein), Free
Thoughts on the first few games? Saw you v Coventry, strong start but then seemed to sit back a lot. Great win in Bristol. How's it been? What have you made of it?
I really can’t complain with our start so far to be honest — we’ve looked really good going forward, and look every bit a Championship outfit. We were excellent in the first half against Coventry but, to be honest, we expected a tough game off them and a point was absolutely fine, and a fair result when reflecting back on the action. At Bristol we were immense in the second half and deserved our victory. We’re now 18 games unbeaten and that momentum carrying through from last season could be really huge for us as we strive to carry on our decent start.
Any noticeable changes to system and style since last season?
Not really, no. Alex Neil has largely stuck with the same system and the same players, flitting between a three at the back formation and four at the back. We have such an embarrassment of riches up top that he can afford to be flexible with his tactics, and that’s been a great strength of ours.
Often tough for promoted teams in the Championship but not many people tipping Sunderland for anything other than a good season. How do you see it going?
I think we might actually surprise a lot of people and finish in the top half. Outside of the clubs with the parachute payments coming in I think the Championship is fair game, and where you finish largely depends upon the aptitude of your manager, the squad he's been allowed to build, and the spirit you have within your team. Right now we're riding on cloud nine and I think that will give us a significant edge over lots of teams, as will our fantastic training facilities, our big fanbase and our large stadium. The potential for Sunderland to be a real force over the coming years at this level is there for all to see, and we just have to strike whilst the iron is hot and grab the opportunity before us.
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