First-day speech that set tone for Neil's Cats tenure
A few weeks back, Alex Neil was asked about Sunderland's option to buy Thorben Hoffmann from Bayern Munich this summer.
In his superb Kicker column, the impressive young goalkeeper had outlined that were he to make two more appearances and the club then won promotion, he would automaticallyjoin permanently.
Alex Neil had absolutely no idea about the clause. It summed up the way in which he has blocked out any outside noise, singularly focusing on going from game to game.
"I have absolutely no idea what it's in any of the player's contracts," he said at the time.
Before Sunderland sealed their place at Wembley, Neil was asked in his pre-match press conference whether he felt that players potentially playing for the last time would give them added motivation to shine.
In response, he discussed the speech that he gave on his first day in the job, and which summed up how he would go on to approach what he was viewing first and foremost as a short-term gig.
"What I said to the players on the first day I came in was whatever your situation is, the one thing that is for absolute certain is that if we gain success and promotion, your position will be significantly enhanced," Neil said.
"That' s whether you choose to stay here or whether you choose to leave.
"You'll be in a far better place if we stick together and achieve success, and that's what I hope for these players. My aim is to try and deliver success for them, so that their future looks like a good one."
Sunderland have five loanees in their squad, and a number of players whose contracts are currently set to expire in the summer.
There is at least an element of doubt over Neil himself, given his relatively short-term contract and his insistence that he has not looked beyond the end of the current campaign. But there was another part to Neil's answer that was interesting.
There is clearly a strong bond between head coach and players, with the former praising the latter for their 'selfless' approach, particularly given how ruth less he has been with team selection. The upshot is that success next Saturday could yet mean the summer rebuild may not be as extensive as initially thought.
"I' ll be honest, it' s not something I've thought about and I actually don't think it's somethingthey' ll particularly think about, with what's at stake," Neil said.
"I'm struggling to think actually think, we've got a lot of players [nearing end of deals] but they may well be here next year."
Sunderland players returned from a short break today to prepare for a major test against Wycombe Wanderers and talk of the summer will still be a long way off.
"I've said to the players [to enjoy this], we've all had seasons as players where it just fritters away into mediocrity, and you're not playing for much," Neil said on Sunday.
"It's never particularly enjoyable because there's normally criticism floating about, 'are we happy plodding on?' type of thing, but these ones are great because there's a lot at stake."
If Sunderland can take that final step, what follows will be more straightforward.
From day one, Neil has seen that win-win scenario.