Promotion would be just the start for Sunderland - Lee
LEE Johnson has warned Sunderland promotion from League One would only be the start of the journey back to where they believe they belong.
The Black Cats face Lincoln in the first leg of their play-off semi-final tonight, desperate to end a threeyear stay in the third tier having slipped from the Premier League and then the Sky Bet Championship in successive seasons.
However, making it back to the Sky Bet Championship would represent only a step along the way in new owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus’ blueprint for the club.
Head coach Johnson, the former Bristol City boss, pictured, said: “It’s a huge club and obviously I’m very grateful to be one of the custodians, if you like, in playing a small part, hopefully, in a lot of success.
“You can feel that, you can feel what needs to be done - and by the way, we are nowhere near finished. Even if we were to be successful and be promoted in these play-offs, there is so much work to be done everywhere.
“The culture has got to improve, the detail has got to improve, every part of the football club needs to be driven forward.
“But there are great people here and that’s really important to say when there are great people who passionately care about the football club, and if we’ve got the backing of the fans, I’ve said before we can really move mountains and be as successful as we believe we can be with the right effort.”
Louis-Dreyfus, the son of former Marseille owner Robert LouisDreyfus, completed his takeover in February and, although the 23-year-old Swiss has big plans for the club, he is not exerting any additional pressure on Johnson, who had been appointed three months earlier.
He said: “He’s put no undue pressure on anybody right from the start as he walked in because the play-offs can be a lottery.
“You’ve got to turn the odds in your favour by having good players, by having your team set up right, by ticking all the boxes.
“But we all know how a football match, particularly a one-game final, can be very, very difficult depending on what goes on during the game. We’ve got 12 days as of Wednesday to really maximise this dream that we all want.”