Martin O’Neill has made a superb start to his Sunderland career

Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill believes that the bubble could burst at his club anytime and he doesn’t think he has ‘cracked it’ it just yet.

However nobody could argue that he has made a good start to his tenure as the Black Cats manager.

Disaster

O’Neill is well aware that it could go wrong at anytime he told Sky Sports: “Disaster is around the corner. It is, it’s lurking, it’s incredibly negative. Am I thinking about the bad times ahead? Jesus, no. I’ve got to remain positive, I’m going to fight this negativity!

“I’ve had some poor runs in my time. I know how difficult it is for some. I’m not building up for the inevitable. The inevitable is inevitable, but I’m not building up for it. That’s probably why I’m a Sunderland fan, absolutely, I couldn’t have chosen a more appropriate club.”

Wrong

I don’t think that it will not go terribly wrong for Sunderland and O’Neill this season though. The team is comfortably in midtable in the Premier League and it doesn’t look like they are in any danger of being relegated.

Steady

The Irishman has made a steady start to his career on Wearside. The teams results have improved and they have moved away from the perilous position that they found themselves in before O’Neill arrived at the club.

Organisation

The former-Aston Villa boss has brought organisation to his boyhood team. His teams have always been well-organised and hard to beat and Sunderland no different. They may not be the prettiest on the eye but they are currently getting results, which under Steve Bruce they wasn’t.

Man-manager

One of Martin O’Neill’s main strengths as a boss is his man-management skills. He is an expert at dragging every last bit of talent out of sometimes average players. Those skills were why he was being talked about as a possible replacement for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.

He has been out of the game for a while but it doesn’t seem like he has lost any of his managerial skills or passion for the game. He can still get the best out of his players.

Upwards

Due to Martin O’Neill’s arrival Sunderland are now closer to the top six than they are the relegation zone and there seems a really feeling that the club has now taken an upward turn. The majority of Sunderland fans are now more optimistic about the future of their club.

Positive

The arrival of O’Neill at the Stadium of Light has produced a far more positive atmosphere at the Stadium of Light. Usually I’m against managers losing their jobs but Steve Bruce really wasn’t good enough to help the club progress.

I don’t believe there were many Sunderland fans that thought O’Neill wouldn’t be a success because he has a good record of getting results in the top flight. Martin O’Neill is a winner and he has brought a winning mentality to the North East.

Summer

O’Neill has made a good start and I can see Sunderland finishing comfortably in the top half of the Premier League table this season. The summer will be an interesting one as O’Neill will get a proper chance to do some wheeling and dealing.

The January transfer window may have came to soon for him to have made a proper judgement on the players available to him and I’m sure there will be a number of new arrivals in the summer.

Success

Martin O’Neill has been a success at every club he has been at and I don’t think that Sunderland will be any different. How well he does at the club however will be dictated by how ambitious the owners of the club are.

If they back their boss in the transfer market I am sure he can bring success to the club. People have been talking about top six ambitions for this season.

I think that’s unrealistic for this season but with the addition of new players in the summer who knows what Sunderland can achieve. They certainly have the right man for the job and it seems he’s in it for the long-haul.

Where will Sunderland finish this season?