Sunderland have made a solid start to proceedings so far this season and they'll be pleased that they are in the early promotion mix.

The Black Cats seem reborn under Jack Ross and Stewart Donald and fans will certainly be hoping that better days are now ahead after some tough years.

Certainly, the early signs are good with Donald taking a no-nonsense approach with the players that have taken the Wearsiders for a ride of late.

Indeed, Didier Ndong is the latest to have been let go from the club following an 'amicable agreement' and that signifies another removal of a player that represented everything wrong with the team.

Short-term, then, fans will be rightly delighted that another loafer is off their books after Papy Djilobodji left only a few weeks ago.

Long-term, though, they also need to be pleased as the impacts of these recent actions will benefit the club.

Of course, there's the financial boost of not having these players around on big wages as well as a morale increase of both remaining squad and fans that these mercenaries aren't knocking about the club.

Equally, we've again seen that owner Stewart Donald is ruthless when it comes to players like this and if he keeps such an approach going, Sunderland are in more than safe hands.

They've been through a lot in recent years, but it looks as though good people are in charge of the club once more.