Jack Ross on club's '˜powerful support' and the difference it could make this season

The Black Cats face Charlton Athletic on Saturday (12.30pm KO) and are set to be backed by a bumper crowd.

Remarkably, season card sales for the upcoming campaign have already surpassed last season’s total and the Black Cats have been backed by big crowds in pre-season.

Ross says it will make his team a force to be reckoned with if they produce performances on the pitch.

Ross said: “They’re ridiculously loyal.

“I can only go on what I find when I come to the club and how positive it has been, the number that have attended games, the support they’ve given the players despite two consecutive relegation is mindblowing.

“The task is to buy into that and keep producing performances on the pitch.

“I’ve tried to have that engagement with supporters in the past and it’s something the club here is trying to do as a whole.

“It’s been tremendously impressive and it shows the squad that if we get it right on the pitch, then we’ll have something very powerful behind us.

“When you have that behind you it does matter.

“At home, particularly, if we have that behind us then it we will be a very difficult team to play against.”

Goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin hopes that the Black Cats can benefit from a ‘reset’ this summer and improve the mood around the club.

He told the Mirror: “We have to cleanse this club. This is the moment for a reset. Have people here without the baggage of past seasons.

“And if we can set high goals and achieve them ... cult heroes emerge when a team comes back from its lowest ebb.

“You have to make a conscious effort to clean the slate or you go on a downward spiral.

“It is important we’ve made that transition now.

“There are lots of new players and a new management team.

“It hopefully will cleanse that bad feeling. That doom and gloom around those players.

“We don’t come with that baggage (of the past), that personal weight on our shoulders.

“Hopefully we can turn the trend and get it back on winning ways.