Former Sunderland star Ally McCoist believes Sunderland can have a tilt at the play-offs in their first season back in the Championship. The Black Cats won promotion from League One via the play-offs in May and have made a solid start to life in the second tier.
They were in the top ten going into yesterday's game at Blackburn Rovers, and even defeat at Ewood Park only saw them slip to 12th - four points shy of the play-off places. McCoist spent two seasons at Roker Park in the early 1980s, scoring nine goals in 65 appearances, also backed Sunderland head coach Tony Mowbray as a 'safe pair of hands' to bring some stability to the club following Alex Neil's shock departure at the end of August.
"Do you know something, you see that league, I love it!" said the ex-Scotland striker, who was speaking to Grosvenor Sport. "I can't tell you how much I love the Championship and I think there's absolutely no reason why Sunderland can't get into the play-off places.
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"I was looking for a bit of stability from Sunderland this season but I like Tony Mowbray, he's a safe pair of hands and knows the management game inside out. I was a little disappointed that Alex Neil left so quickly to be honest but at the same time, I think Sunderland's replacement was a very, very good choice.
"I'm a Sunderland man as you know and I’ve seen enough from this team to know that they can sneak into the playoff places. I look at the teams above and you've got Swansea, Luton and Reading, who have had a great start by the way, with Incey [Paul Ince] and Alex Rae - other than that, there's not much difference between the sides in the Championship.
"All Sunderland need is one strong run of five or six games unbeaten and they'll be able to consolidate themselves in the playoffs."
McCoist left Sunderland in the summer of 1983 to move back to his native Scotland with Glasgow Rangers, going on to become an Ibrox hero as he became the club's record goalscorer with more than 350 goals in almost 600 appearances, and winning ten league titles, one Scottish Cup, and the Scottish League Cup on nine occasions, before later going on to manage the club.
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