Alex Neil plotting a Championship promotion campaign on a £50m budget would be easy at Sunderland - but it simply is not an option. The Black Cats have returned to the Championship this season after four years in League One, and they began their second tier campaign with a 1-1 draw against Coventry City yesterday.
With gates of 40,000-plus making Sunderland by far the best-supported team outside the top flight, there will inevitably be expectation in some quarters that Sunderland should be pushing for promotion this term. But, having worked at this level before, Neil knows that that is highly unlikely given that Sunderland's ownership is keen to run the club in a sustainable way rather than pour in vast sums of cash.
"There's been a disparity at the club for a long period, and that makes for an anomaly," he said. "There's been a League One team for the last four seasons, a Premier League stadium, a Premier League fanbase, a Premier League expectation, but the fact is that we need to recognise where we are.
