BBC pundit and former player Jobi McAnuff has suggested that Sunderland will fail to finish in the top six of the Championship this season.
The Black Cats open the season on Saturday afternoon away to Cardiff City in Wales under new head coach Régis Le Bris, who joined the club earlier this summer. However, McAnuff does not believe Sunderland will threaten the play-off places despite some decent signings.
“Sunderland are really interesting for me, obviously they’ve finally got a new manager and someone to come in and I think I’m really trying to get them going,” McAnuff said on BBC 5 Live’s Championship preview.
“I think Alan Browne is a very important signing for them, which they’ve really missed and obviously they have a role model at the club that they’re young and sometimes quite foreign. And I think it’s going to be really important for them to have players ready for the Championship levels.
“I think he’s going to be a really big signing, but I still don’t see them really threatening the top of the table. I think Coventry for me again, season after season, just keep doing a really great job. I’ve got Mark Robbins and they’re back end of last year, really good cup run.
“So for me, they would be the ones I would probably look at to do a little bit better this year and maybe make the playoffs again, and this time maybe do better and advance.”