It doesn’t actually take very a lot to get me enthusiastic about Sunderland, so the actual fact I’m so buzzing to see us play in opposition to Bradford on Tuesday in what actually is only a meaningless health train ought to come as no shock.

Nonetheless, you may hardly blame me, proper?

It hasn’t been straightforward being a Sunderland supporter in my lifetime – or in any of our lifetimes, I believe – so for most likely the primary pre-season since I took the reins as Managing Editor of this improbable web site round eight years in the past, I’ve one thing to genuinely stay up for, and a staff that I really feel proud to assist and rejoice.

That’s eight years of moaning, complaining, and getting my hopes, up solely to be let down time after time; of shopping for into homeowners and gamers and managers, solely to be left feeling like a mug for ever believing in them.

Now, nonetheless, we are able to lastly calm down a little bit.

Alex Neil is a completely good soccer supervisor who would give any coach on this stunning little island a run for his or her cash. He’s switched on, clever, straight-talking, hardworking, revered, educated, skilled and genuinely only a man I place lots of religion and belief in.

Proper now, in my eyes, he can do no improper.

Photograph by Gualter Fatia/Getty Photos

And while I’ve been important of him previously for the way in which he dealt with the sacking of Lee Johnson and the following appointment of a successor (oh, and the entire Defoe saga which I gained’t return into as a result of no person actually cares anymore), Kristjaan Speakman is doing a sound job and seems to be connecting every little thing from the senior administration, the possession, the squad, the academy, the recruitment staff and every little thing in between very nicely.

Stuart Harvey is bringing some actually thrilling younger gamers into the membership, and I’m certain that extra will observe, while we’ve made it a precedence to tie down our greatest younger gamers to new offers.

We seem to have our collective heads screwed on, and are attempting to function on the entrance foot – a far cry from earlier years the place we have been usually so gradual to react it was as if we have been wading by means of quicksand, thereby encouraging the vultures to choose us aside.

Mixed with the great feeling that’s hanging over from the improbable promotion we earned at Wembley in Might, that’s resulting in a really optimistic feeling from us all going into the brand new season – one thing that has been mirrored in every little thing we’ve seen up to now in pre-season, together with the 2-0 loss that we suffered to Roma in Portugal.

Maybe essentially the most spectacular factor in regards to the performances that I’ve seen thus far is simply the depth of the way in which we’re taking part in.

We’re not conforming to the everyday fashion that almost all sides undertake throughout pre-season, with gamers seeking to keep away from any actual bodily confrontation or exertion, and merely hoping to get by means of the sport with out injuring themselves or doing something daft. As an alternative, we’re taking part in at a excessive, aggressive tempo, and we’re taking part in at a degree that I’d count on us to play at within the Championship.

To me, that could be a promising signal: that these gamers are hungry to earn their locations within the facet, that they’re enthusiastic about their soccer and the season forward, and that – maybe most significantly – they’re having fun with being right here and dealing below this supervisor.

It’s a pleasant change, and it’s making watching these video games considerably extra attention-grabbing.

We do after all have three extra video games to play over the subsequent week, and I could possibly be made to look very foolish if the great performances don’t proceed, however that’s kinda my level – I’m stuffed with perception in Alex Neil and these gamers, realizing that they’ve obtained what it takes to do their jobs to the very best of their means.

Positive, everyone knows we’re mild in a number of areas of the squad, however we’re not far off, and in including high quality in key positions already we’re creating competitors in a squad of younger, gifted and hungry gamers who aren’t right here to only sit on a fats wage packet and stagnate – they’re right here to higher themselves, higher their teammates, and to higher Sunderland AFC.

That may solely augur nicely for the approaching Championship season.

In Alex Neil we belief!