Alex Neil says Sunderland must not underestimate their opening day opponents Coventry City - pointing out that the Black Cats are the new kids on the block in the Championship, while the Sky Blues have established themselves in the second tier. Sunderland make their return to the Championship this weekend after winning promotion from League One at the fourth attempt, and they take on Coventry at the Stadium of Light in front of the Sky Sports cameras on Sunday lunchtime.
A big crowd is expected and the surge of positivity that surrounded Sunderland's promotion at Wembley two months ago is set to continue into the new campaign. But Neil cautions that Sunderland are stepping up a level, and they start against a side that is about to embark on its third season in the Championship following their own promotion from League One in 2020.
"I do think we have a difficult start," said Neil. "Unfortunately for us, I think some people might underestimate Coventry - I certainly don't.
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"I've seen them first hand and they are a very good side, and it's going to be a tough match for us. We've got a team that's an unknown quantity in the Championship, and we're coming off the high of winning promotion last season.
"We've got good players, but it's going to be a learning curve for a lot of them. I'd say that three-quarters of the squad haven't played at Championship level - and even the year we did spend in the Championship, as a club, we fell right through it.
"We had a good end to last season, and we have good players albeit some of them are young and still finding their way in the game. We've also got an incredible fan base that will hopefully urge the lads on and allow them to outperform where they currently are in their development.
"There are a lot of things to be excited about."
Mark Robins' Coventry were promoted from League One as champions in 2020, and finished 16th in the Championship in their first season back at that level, building on that to finish 12th last term. And in some ways Neil says Sunderland need to follow a similar path.
He said: "I certainly think they are a team you look at and think that's the path we are going down more so than other teams who have maybe flung money at it and tried to get out of the league that way, which in the Championship is difficult to do. It's a case of making steady progress.
"This year's going to be really exciting. It's going to be difficult at times, and I just hope the fans stay with us because naturally anything that's worth building takes time."
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