Alex Neil: Sunderland boss 'welcomes pressure' of managing League One club
- Published
Alex Neil's reign as Sunderland boss began with a 1-1 draw at AFC Wimbledon
New Sunderland boss Alex Neil has insisted he will relish the pressure of managing the League One club.
Neil, 40, replaced Lee Johnson on 11 February and will lead his first home game against MK Dons on Saturday.
"The scrutiny here is magnified because we've got such a huge fan base. I welcome that pressure. It's one of the key reasons why I came here," he said.
"The scrutiny around every facet of the club is huge because the fans live and breathe Sunderland."
Former Norwich and Preston boss Neil inherited a team struggling to stay in the race for automatic promotion from League One with just one win in their past eight matches.
The Black Cats are fourth in the table, seven points behind second-placed Wigan and having played three matches more than the Latics.
"We want an immediate impact," the Scot added.
"Being a club the size of Sunderland, we want to try to get out of League One as quickly as we can.
"Our priority is to win as many games as we can between now and the end of the season, see where that takes us to and if we can challenge for automatic promotion - which looks to be difficult at the moment in terms of what the points look like - or get into the play-offs."