Sunderland planning UK friendlies in pre-season

Former boss Moyes said at the start of last season that he believed the lack of friendlies at home may be hampering his side at the start of the campaign.

Sunderland have had to request an away fixture to begin the season in order to give the pitch in time to recover – and the Black Cats’ dismal recent record in matches in August and September perhaps bears out Moyes’ theory.

He said: “I don’t know how it starts. But I made one suggestion was that we need to get used to having a preseason friendly at home.

“I think they’ve said, for the last five or six years, they [the club] don’t want their first game at home.

“I reckon that if, in the last five years, we’d had three or four of those first games at home, we’d have won at least one of them.

“I can’t prove that, but that’s my thought,” he added.

“Even having a couple of pre-season games at home would have done Sunderland no harm.

“I’m not saying that’s the biggest reason, but maybe it’s something that could have helped get rid of this, I don’t know what you’d call it, hoodoo?

“I think the club, and I’m talking about the leadership, needtosay‘nowe’renotdoing that, we’re actually going to see if we can get the first league game at home, play a pre-season tournament at home get a couple of games on the pitch, give the crowd something else to see as well’.

“They’ve not been treated to an awful lot of good things. Maybe that might not be the answer, but I’m trying to find one.”

Moyes’ successor will be hoping to reap the benefits of the change in approach.

Former Sunderland midfielder David Vaughan has penned a new one-year contract with Nottingham Forest. The 34-year-old joined the City Ground club from Sunderland in the summer 2014, following a loan at Forest the previous season.

Luton have transfer-listed midfielder Jake Gray, 21, who had a successful loan at Hartlepool United in 2015-16.

Brentford have signed out-of-contract Scunthorpe goalkeeper Luke Daniels on a three-year deal. He will compete with Dan Bentley and Jack Bonham at the Championship outfit.

McInnes has brought great success to Aberdeen with an intense style of play that puts pressure on the opponents.

The Dons press high up the pitch and snap into tackles, while they’re also not afraid to get the ball in the box from wide areas, with wingers Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn playing pivotal roles.

Again, the 45-year-old Scot has Championship experience, leading West Brom to promotion in 2002 as captain of the Baggies.

He was a hard-working, tough midfielder with strong leadership qualities, and picked up two full Scotland caps late in his career.