Sunderland secured a Championship return via the League One play-offs, with the Black Cats running as 2-0 winners against Wycombe Wanderers at Wembley. 

In what proved to be a comfortable enough outing in the country's capital, goals from Elliot Embleton and Ross Stewart confirmed their place in next season's second tier.

Alex Neil will now be assessing his options with the 2022/23 campaign in mind, with the primary and initial objective being to survive the drop, and should that be achieved, then they will strive accordingly. 

Adding stability and confidence in a time when the Black Cats could have fallen away, Neil certainly impressed during the latter stages of the campaign. 

Speaking to FLW, pundit Carlton Palmer shared high praise for the Black Cats boss: "Credit to Alex Neil, fantastic job he's done since he's came in there.

 

 

"You can't speak highly enough of the manager to come in there and do the job he's done."

The verdict 

Neil really has impressed since taking charge back in February, and despite Sunderland still finding themselves high up the table at the point, he walked into a difficult situation. 

With the job attracting a high number of quality candidates, during a lengthy process of finding Lee Johnson's successor, Neil was eventually selected by the Sunderland hierarchy. 

Picking up just a single point in his first three games, he then turned things around by embarking on an unbeaten run, a run they are still on going into the higher division. 

Possessing an excellent squad around, his tactical tweaks have managed to turn the club's fortunes around, with the Black Cats ending the season looking a level above.