Alex Neil insists experience is the key to success at Sunderland - both in the dugout and on the pitch. The head coach says the task of leading the Black Cats is not suited to a novice, with constant pressure to succeed meaning there is minimal opportunity to make mistakes and learn on the job.
Neil took over in February, arriving on Wearside having overseen more than 350 games at previous clubs Preston, Norwich City, and north of the Border at Hamilton Academical. His immediate mission at Sunderland is to lead the club into the play-offs, and secure promotion to the Championship.
Neil has lost just one of his nine games at the helm, and the club is currently on a seven-game unbeaten run. But the Scot admits he had to draw heavily on his past experiences when taking control of a side that had won just one of its last seven games, arrest that slump, and put the Black Cats back on course for the play-offs.
"In my opinion, this job is not for an inexperienced manager," said Neil, who achieved promotion to the Scottish Premiership via the play-offs with Hamilton in 2014, and via the play-offs to the Premier League with Norwich in 2015. "I think if you come into something this size, with the expectation it carries, then I think experience is absolutely crucial.
"What I lean on at the moment, at these times when I'm still learning and picking things up [about the club], is that I've been here before in different scenarios. I've been here with different clubs, I've been here with different expectations, and I know what it looks like to get out of a league.
"I know what it looks like to create a winning team in a really short space of time. That's what I’m trying to do at the moment. It's certainly not easy, because if it was, everybody would do it. But I'm doing my best, and I think we're doing OK."
Experience also plays an important on the pitch, particularly when competing for promotion or a play-off place. Sunderland have given younger players such as Dan Neil, Anthony Patterson, Dennis Cirkin, and the on-loan duo of Nathan Broadhead and Callum Doyle, opportunities to thrive this season.
But they have played alongside experienced men such as Bailey Wright, Danny Batth, Corry Evans, Alex Pritchard, and Carl Winchester. Neil said: "There’s experienced players in there, and the team [in last Saturday's win against Gillingham] was probably far more experienced than it has been before.
"With what's at stake at the moment, and with the pressure and scrutiny that we're under as a club, then I think sometimes experience is sometimes very, very important, particularly with six or seven games remaining. I've leaned on that a little bit more.
"That's not to say that will be the case in every game between now and the end of the season, because it won't, but certainly for that one it was important."
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