Neil’s not one stuck in the past

THERE’S a mischievous account on Twitter called ‘Are Sunderland still in L1’.

Every day the anonymous administrator tweets a simple “Yes” to an avalanche of likes ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand.

I thought of it this week when Black cats boss Alex Neil (above) challenged me when I pointed out that, in many ways, Sunderland AREN’T a League One club.

He was sick of hearing that platitude since arriving in February and sparking a 14-game unbeaten streak, including Friday’s play-off win over Sheffield Wednesday.

He said: “This is the bit that irritates me. People keep telling me we are not a League One club.

“Yeah? You are in League One. If you want to talk about the infrastructure, the fan base, the stadium… are they League One standard? No.

“People say you have the best squad in the league. I say we have the fifth best, because we finished fifth…”

Neil likes to dish out tough, honest love to his players.

He’s a straight talker. No pussyfooting around anymore, Sunderland have to face up to the reality of where they are, after four years in tier three.

It is a refreshing approach that sees them play a huge semi-final at Hillsborough tomorrow night, a goal up, to earn a trip to Wembley and a crack at promotion.

His point is valid. Relatively recently Ipswich, Portsmouth, Charlton and Bolton were in the top flight, winning trophies or even in Europe, and none made the League One play-offs.

Big clubs, bit of history, and not really League One? Every one of them.

Sheffield Wednesday, too. Massive support, iconic stadium.

Neil is having none of this living in the past thing. He benefits from the infrastructure and support base others build, but is at ground zero in his own rebuild, on a limited budget.

I doubt the narking Twitter account will ever tweet: “No.”

The name will be changed to “Are Sunderland still in the Championship.”

But like Neil says: “Management is a never-ending mountain climb.”